Glasfryn Project

The cycle of almost-sonnets gathered here began life in the opening days of the Covid 19 lockdown, when the author and his wife took on the rental of a run-down, rabbit-besieged local allotment.These many-hinged poems, bricolaged from the materials of daily life, memory, myth, art, music and literature (haunted in places by the stupefied characters of A Midsummer Night’s Dream) reflect, amongst other things, on the nature of nature, both inner and outer, and on the intricacies of a personal engagement with and sometimes against it. A portion of fate, the span of a life, a measured patch of ground for the cultivation of vegetables: the word ‘allotment’ has many possible usages. And, of course, there is always the question of Utopia…

‘It’s a fabulous little book; full of true Marvellian ‘vegetable love … vaster than empires’, as well as Midsummer Night’s Dreaming, beautifully and intricately considered.’ John Goodby

‘Each poem seems to need a few slow readings, or that’s how I like to grow them anyway, lying flummoxed in their surrealistic pastoral rhapsody, letting the meagre measures moulder and metabolise up through the soil. I love the 13-line ‘almost-sonnet’ form, homegrown, half-formed and refusing to fully ripen. I spot bits of arable lexicon and start to trace this narrative of the growing year, but then there are bits that don’t ‘fit’, dissonances, like sax improvisations sketching off on different trajectories, different vegetal consciousnesses photosynthesising misshapen monologues. Penny Hallas’ image on the cover captures this alien quality for me, like a cerebrum unfurling each sonnet-frond veined with these offbeat riff-soliloquies.’ Steven Hitchins

 

Published April 2025. Uk £10.00

Aquifer Books

ISBN: 978-1-7393462-7-0

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If you prefer to pay by cheque (sterling) please make the cheque payable to Aquifer Books and send to Glasfryn, Llangattock, Powys, NP8 1PH

 

For buyers in the USA, AUSTRALIA OR NEW ZEALAND, the cost is £16.00 inclusive of postage and packing. To purchase a copy click on the button below:

 

 

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If you prefer to pay by cheque (sterling) please make the cheque payable to Aquifer Books and send to Glasfryn, Llangattock, Powys, NP8 1PH
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View all: Aquifer | Posted on 15 Apr 2025 |