KIRSTY KARKOW: WATER POEMS Black Cat Press 613 Okemo Drive Eldersburg Maryland 21784 USA ISBN 0 9766407 0 8 $15.95 email Black Cat Press email the author A subsquent collection is SHORELINES (Black Cat Press ISBN 0 9766407 5 9). Web design by This page last updated: 13th October 2008. |
KIRSTY KARKOW: WATER POEMS | |
WATER POEMS is a collection that evokes beautifully the sea and shorescapes of Maine: not a whale ... the dark bank of seaweed rises on each swell paddling briskly the high-water mark drawn with snow twilight at sea — homebound trawlers tow long shadowsThe book is full of such finely received images — transferred to the page with great craft. Ms Karkow's work has a gentle vigour; each 'action' emerging unforced from its particular catalyst. These poems reflect with integrity the poet's commitment to her, as yet, untrammelled environment: salt marsh a moose lifts antlers dripping with weeds ice moon long-haired ponies turn tail to the windMs Karkow is equally skilled in the art of tanka and sijo — a form originating in Korea. An interesting form which allows for a greater lyricism, having three long lines which depict three distinct shades of meaning within the poem. Western poets tend to split the lines into six: Terns and gulls line both rails, the pier white with their waiting. Gray beaks face the northeast gale, steady as weather vanes in pewter. A cold front! Why do they pause? The wind would help them southward.The poet's quietly passionate sense of place is very much evidenced in the following tanka: loons live here countless lilies, otters, a beaver dam ... his voice grows soft with sharing lake lore learned from childhoodWATER POEMS is a beautifully produced little book. Ms Karkow's charming front cover watercolour is aptly chosen. | ||
reviewer: Michael Bangerter |