Poet Mary Palmer has two collections published by Awen – Tidal Shift, and Iona.
Reviewing Tidal Shift, Helen Moore said “Throughout we experience the communications of a compassionate heart – sometimes burning with fierce irony, elsewhere disarmingly tender – yet steadily maintaining a courageous gaze in the face of others’ suffering.”
It’s a long and detailed review for Caduceus which can be read in full here – http://www.natures-words.co.uk/Review and concludes “At the end of her life, Christian faith and love have become Palmer’s main source of nourishment. However, her concern remains predominantly with others – the poet’s often fragmentary utterances are epitomised by her desire to extend a ‘Lifeline’ to those she’s leaving behind: “I believe in going/ the oyster way/ in weaving meaning/ around the grit/ in leaving you/ a rope of pearls.” But ultimately, I feel her courageous surrendering to death is the greatest gift she offers her readers – “give yourself/ to the surgeon’s knife/ let go/ an outpouring of love/ your miracle.” ”
Geoff Hall says the following of her work “Her poetry eroded the boundaries we allocate to things like spiritual and physical, sacred and secular. She knew there were no such divisions; no duality in her understanding of the world.”
And
“Mary’s Celtic spirituality meant that she was connected to the earth as well as transcending it. Her word images are metaphors which point beyond our experience of the world around us, to capture a moment, a brief moment of bliss. They are pointedly sensual and I’ve noticed that mystic poets (St John of the Cross comes to mind) always seem to stir the most sensual images and translate their meaning from the here and now, to an eternity of bliss.”
You can read his blog post here – artsmentoring.co/art-and-spirituality/mary-palmer/
Find out more about Iona here – .awenpublications.co.uk/iona.html
find out more about Tidal Shift here – awenpublications.co.uk/tidal_shift.html
Comments