3.5 out of 5 stars
A copy of this was provided free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review.
As humans, we have been changing our planet for thousands of years. We have laid waste to beautiful parts of the world and since the industrial revolution have been accelerating this damage in so many ways. The debate about this is highly charged, not helped but an aggressive campaign by those that will probably lose the most if we move away from fossil fuels.
One of those who is furious about what we are doing to this planet that we live on is Julian Bishop. In this his debut poetry collection, he is seeking to raise ‘an army of stubborn weeds’ to push back against the apathy of the political class.
Never were so many bells silent at once:
A congregation of flowers at prayer
We prayed for the dying elsewhere
Split into three sections, A Taster, Mains and Afters, Bishop covers a wide range of subjects in his poems, from Poached Salmon about how these fish are affected by rising water temperatures to Eton Mess, a barbed poem about are self-entitled leaders. There are notes in the back of the book about the news stories that inspired a particular poem.
This is not the most cheerful collection, but I kind of expected that. But then I can imagine that people picking this up would be passionate about the environment, What is very clear though is Bishops underlying fury and it is evident in all of his poems. It is a snapshot of humanity’s cruelty to almost every living this on this planet. What does come across though is that he still feels there is a glimmer of hope in amongst all the doom and gloom.
Four Favourite Poems
Una Fodera Argento
Pangolin
Highlights Of Mining For Gold In Indonesia
Rush Hour
And comments are working again, hooray!
I had a big sigh of relief!