The first thing I noticed with The Locust Years: Poems by Paul Pastor is that it is a physically beautiful book. The cover illustration and interior art are by Michael Cook, an artist and gallery owner who lives in Derbyshire in England. This is the kind of book I find a pleasure simply to hold in my hands. I’m attracted to books like this; books that are as much a work of art as what they contain.
The second thing I noticed, or rather learned, is that the poems were written over a four-year period that the poet says were the most difficult of his life. He doesn’t explain, except to say the poems themselves will provide the reader with few if any clues. The collection is not a memoir; it is a collection that grew from personal difficulties.
To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.
Some Thursday Readings
“The Shrouding of the Duchess of Malfi,” poem by John Webster and “O hour of all hours,” poem by Owen Meredith – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.
Giant statues to return to Notre Dame spire in latest stage of restoration – Kim Willsher at The Guardian.
At the Monument – Spitalfields Life.
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