Sol

Description

Solitude, solace, consolationÃÂÃÂÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂàsun in its onlyness ÃÂÃÂÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂàare some of the motifs that play through Andrew JohnstonÃÂÃÂÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs marvellous new collection, illuminating with humour and curiosity the ways we link language, loss, history and memory. At the heart of Sol are two major poems. Les Baillessats is a relaxed, sun-filled poem to his newborn son. 'The Sunflower', an elegy for his father, is a technically dazzling double sestina, and a grave extended meditation on death, family and religious faith and was recently published in 'The Listener'. One young bloom in a vase or jar, breath- takingly yellow. And her hands, in the morning light, the way they arrange and rearrange. Death brings lilies, but someone has sent a sunflower: this is our penance, staring at the sun, its blind eye, its ragged halo. from 'The Sunflower' First published 2007