MARTIN BURKE: THE EASTER BALLAD Wordsonthestreet 6 San Antonio Park Salthill Galway Ireland ISBN 978 0 9552604 2 1 €13.99 email Wordsonthestreet visit the website of Wordsonthestreet Web design by This page last updated: 14th December 2007. |
MARTIN BURKE: THE EASTER BALLAD | |
This is a collection of poems that together present a treatise on the spiritual nature of being, and is especially concerned with the concept of beauty, as this extract from ESSAY ON BEAUTY typifies: Ah Keats, you come to mind You with your one concern which is my concern In Rome and/or in Brugge Yes, beauty my one concern I have sung for nothing else nor will I sing without it & moonlight giving its accuracy and rightful momentand also the Christian tradition: Towards the beauty of the perfect word Towards the rose and its core And singing, singing, singing Yes, the heart remembers Remembers and longs and sings from memory and longing Verb after verb, word after faithful word The soul risingThe above is from THE EASTER BALLAD. Some of the titles refer to the spoken/sung word, as in THE EASTER BALLAD, SINGING AT STARS, and NIGHT-SONGS for good reason, as the works, I feel, lean towards performance and the theatre. The influence of Walt Whitman on form is apparent, and the content is reminiscent of John Kinsella. Although I am very fond of the work of Whitman and Kinsella, this combination is not really my taste; but Burke has the ability to sustain a haunting rhythm and if he were to address more specific subjects, and be less detached, I think he would produce some astonishing work. This work is an interesting light read. | ||
reviewer: Doreen King. |