Janet Murch
Review:
Proof of Silhouettes - Sheila E. Murphy
Stride, 11 Sylvan Road, Exeter, Devon EX4 6EW 114 pages £8.50
Sheila E. Murphy makes interesting use of words - nouns as verbs, adverbs and adjectives, verbs in unexpected places, intriguing compound nouns - creating chant-like poems. The sound of them is worth savouring. Take this opening to Brass Section: Hapless cadenzas make their way into an adolescence unrehearsed. I liked the poems in the way I like the poetry of I liked the poems in the way I like the poetry of unrehearsed cryptic crossword clues and felt the same obstinate determination to crack them while not being able to say I particularly enjoyed them - maybe it was too much like hard work. If life is too short to stuff a mushroom then for me it is also too short to work out what lines like this mean: The dim equestrian motet surrendered evidentiary habitat ( After Chaperone ).
Lead these me to the stumping interrogative: when is such wizardicverbiage craft and when pretentious twaddle?
Page(s) 56
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