Far from home
FAR FROM HOME: Poems of faith, grief and gladness
Andrew Lansdown.
Wombat Books
This book contains such a wealth of stunning poems. Being a fan of Andrew Lansdown’s work over many years, some of the poems in this book are already familiar to me from other publications. Boat in particular is one of my favourites and one I have often used in poetry writing workshops to demonstrate how poem to can be constructed on more than one level. While it is about a boy going out to sea in a boat, it is also about the way the relationship between father and son changes as the boy grows older. Grief and I Do not Forget are poignant poems that will resonate with others.
Others present a fresh view in small imagistic poems that make the reader look at things differently. Haiku and tanka are two favourite forms Andrew Lansdown uses and he packs so much into so few lines. No-one writing in Australia, in my opinion, handles imagery as deftly as Lansdown. His poetry is exquisite.
Some of the other poems, in particular those about the prophet Elijah were new to me. They take the biblical story and give a fresh perspective to it. I was so engrossed in this new perspective on Elijah’s story that I was disappointed when I came to the end and found it had the left the reader at the point where Obadiah meets up with Elijah before his encounter with Ahab. I would have liked to keep reading more of Elijah’s story in this manner. Maybe that’s for another book.
For anyone not familiar with Lansdown's work this would be a good volume to acquaint them with the breadth of Landsown's poetry and the imagistic, lyrical and spiritual qualities always found in his poems. For those who already know his work this is another gem to add to their collection. He has always been able to convey his Christian faith and poetry in a way that even readers and poets who do not share his beliefs can recognise and appreciate the artistry and lyricism of his poetry.
The cover shows a replica of The Caravans— Gypsy Camp by Vincent Van Gogh; an appropriate image given that Lansdown himself is so obviously on a journey to his real home in heaven. Even his simplest imagist poems display his faith in a living creator who wants the best for His children. Like all the books produced by Wombat Books this book is beautifully presented – a delight to the eye as well as to the ear. After reading it initially, this book is one I have returned to time after time to dip into. DH
Birds in Mind Review
Birds in Mind: Australian nature poems by Andrew Lansdown. Wombat Books, 2009 pb 224p
What a marvelous collection of poems! Not only are they accurate wildlife observations, but also orisons to the uniqueness of birds, insects, animals and their environs. The scope of subject matter is broad. For example, the wide variety of tributes to birdlife range from: “the white-faced heron – geisha refinement and deportment” to “a flock of finches – doing a crossword puzzle in the cyclone wire gate”. Waterlife is characterised by “motorbike frogs star revving up” and “the sandcrab boxbodied like a hansomcab”. Descriptors for plants and trees include “common donkey orchids braying their beauty” and “a eucalyptus flower with anthers of gold and filaments of fire”. Other poems deal with outdoor activities like camping, photography, and fishing. There is an occasional touch of whimsy and quirkiness. Highly recommended. NS (ACLA)
BIRDS IN MIND
Andrew Lansdown
Wombat Books
Lansdown paints word-portraits of Australian birds; sometimes little cameos and sometimes full, wall-length canvases. As well there are sketches of orchids and kangaroos, and panoramas of rivers and flame-trees, which together bring the Australian landscape alive with colour and movement. WN
Birds in Mind is available online from one of our sponsors. Or at your local independent or large chain bookstore.
With my Knife Review:
WITH MY KNIFE
Andrew Lansdown
Scholastic
The day before his birthday, Colyn finds a knife in a potato patch. The blade is black and the handle has a design of a circle with a tapering triangle inside. His dad remembers losing it when he was a boy. But it looks as if it has been regularly polished. And the cutting edge – well there’s something mysterious about it. Why do potatoes turn to stone as Colyn finishes peeling them? And did the piece of wood he whittled really bark when he threw his failed carving of a dog into the fire?
Colyn idly cuts a triangle into a potato and creates a windowstone. He discovers that, when he places his finger into the window, it doesn’t come through the other side.
He looks in – and sees a terrifying yellow eye.
Later, when making a jigsaw with his dad, he recognises it as a dragon’s eye.
So Colyn is introduced to the Otherworld of Klarin and before long his curiosity leads him to create a doorway into the borderland between worlds: a white wrapping mist where dragons roam.
But a doorway in is a doorway out. Through it a dragon comes hunting.
Making five smooth stones from potatoes – reminding us perhaps of David about to confront Goliath – Colyn faces the dragon.
With My Knife is a spare and beautiful story like the harsh landscape which forms its backdrop – wasting nothing, hiding secrets, only revealing its treasures when you peer closely.
Colyn blinked in disbelief. ‘Oh,’ he said. ‘There you are. You’re alive.’ The dog looked up at him, his head cocked to one side, one ear pricked, the other bent.
His father reached the shed. ‘Hello,’ he said. ‘Where’d the mutt come from?’
Colyn knelt to pat the kelpie. ‘I made him,’ he said. ‘With my knife.’
With My Knife is the first book in the trilogy, The Chronicles of Klarin. Parts of it are strongly reminiscent of Philip Pullman’s The Subtle Knife, though Lansdown’s work was published a year or two earlier and exposits a very different worldview. AH