Synopses & Reviews
Robin Robertsons fourth collection is an intense, moving, bleakly lyrical, and at times shocking book. These poems are written with the authority of classical myth, yet sound utterly contemporary. The poets gaze—whether on the natural world or the details of his own life— is unflinching and clear, its utter seriousness leavened by a wry, dry, and disarming humor.
Alongside fine translations from Neruda and Montale and dynamic retellings of stories from Ovid, the poems here pitch the power and wonder of nature against the frailty and failure of the human. This is a book of considerable grandeur and sweep that confirms Robertson as one of the most arresting and powerful poets at work today.
Review
"The reader is almost blinded by the incandescent authority of these poems."-The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Robin Robertson is instantly recognizable as a poet of vivid authority, commanding a surprised, accurate language of his own. . . . This is a first book of extraordinary gifts and assured maturity."-W. S. Merwin
Review
"Robertson's fourth collection is astonishing in its eclecticism..." Publishers Weekly "There's a drama and majesty here that also teaches us a lesson: That a writer, a poet especially, has the power to make an act of recovery. In "Leaving St. Kilda" Robertson recalls all those unique, old names (and who, by the way, first named them?) before they're lost — before the clouds stream over them, as they do over Mullach Mòr, and they're forgotten. Elsewhere in this somber, beautiful collection, Robertson does the same with smaller, fleeting moments of insight as his speakers confront the passing of time — how, for instance, in "Landfall," the "crates that once held herring,/ freshly dead, now hold distance, nothing but the names/ of the places I came from, years ago." Los Angeles Times
Synopsis
In “a first book of extraordinary gifts and assured maturity” (W. S. Merwin), Robin Robertson gives us forty-two poems that “are deep, dark journeys into the soul and psyche of human experience” (NPRs Weekend Edition). “The reader is almost blinded by the incandescent authority of these poems” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution).
Synopsis
In a first book of extraordinary gifts and assured maturity (W. S. Merwin), Robin Robertson gives us forty-two poems that are deep, dark journeys into the soul and psyche of human experience (NPR s Weekend Edition). The reader is almost blinded by the incandescent authority of these poems (Atlanta Journal-Constitution).
"
Synopsis
In these forty-two poems, Robin Robertson demonstrates an astonishing range of style and concerns, in a voice that is utterly original. Whether he is rendering a dramatic new version of Ovid ("The Flaying of Marsyas") or celebrating the ambiguous pleasures of food ("Artichoke"), Robertson's poetry is always lucid, sensuous, and compelling. These are poems that speak of the wounds of memory, the implacable coupling of desire and loss, the fugitive nature of things. Elegant and profound, A Painted Field has proved a stunning debut.
Synopsis
A new collection of poetry by acclaimed UK poet Robin Robertson
About the Author
Robin Robertson is a 30-year veteran food writer, cooking teacher, and chef specializing in vegan and vegetarian cooking. She is the author of 20 vegetarian or vegan cookbooks, including Vegan Planet and 1,000 Vegan Recipes, and is a regular columnist for VegNews magazine and VegCooking.com. She operates a vegan-focused website and blog at RobinRobertson.com.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
I
Album 3
Signs on a White Field 4
By Clachan Bridge 6
Tulips 8
The Plague Year 9
Wonderland 13
The Tweed 14
About Time 15
Fall from Grace 16
Going to Ground 17
Cat, Failing 18
A Gift 19
Strindberg in Berlin 20
Venery 22
My Girls 23
Tinsel 24
Leaving St Kilda 25
II
Law of the Island 33
Kalighat 34
Religion 36
Pentheus and Dionysus 37
Lesson 45
The Daughters of Minyas 46
An Ambush 52
Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market 53
Grave Goods 56
Albatross in Co. Antrim 57
The Great Midwinter Sacrifice, Uppsala 58
Web 60
The Hammam 61
The Act of Distress 62
White 63
III
The Wood of Lost Things 67
Middle Watch, Hammersmith 70
Landfall 71
Calling Home 72
Ictus 73
The Unwritten Letter 74
Beginning to Green 75
During Dinner 76
Arsenio 77
Dress Rehearsals 80
Easter, Liguria 81
Widows Walk 82
Diving 84
Abandon 86
At Roane Head 87
Hammersmith Winter 90
Notes & Acknowledgements 93