A copy of this was provided free of charge from the author in return for an honest review.

 

This is the second collection of poems that Edward Ragg has written and these are about his life in China as it undergoes a rapid and dramatic change. It is a wide-ranging collection, from poems that cover anxiety, travel, his mothers birthday, the sinister surveillance society of China, the pleasure of just watching things happen and the mysteries of punctuation.

Some revelations grow
From the ground,

Some from the
Burning hearth,

Some from
the inquisitive mind 

 

To me, all the poems feel rooted in things that Ragg has experienced, both here and in China. I like his use of short lines of prose that are full of meaning and very much to the point regardless of whether he is writing about leaving Shanghai or finding and following a path. There are poems with longer verses to that add a decent heft to a book that feels refined. Really enjoyed this, and I am reliably informed by the author that there is a third collection, but not sure when that is going to be out this year which I am looking forward to reading in due course.

Three Favourite Poems
Punctuation Points
Day of Reckoning
A Dawning

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