Carillon Magazine

Reviews from the magazine

Issue 11

Turpentine

By Pat Jourdan

Motet Press, 17 Sea Road, Galway, Ireland

72 pp £6.99 ISBN 0-9542399-1-1

Reviewed by Carol Thistlethwaite

From the poet's own painting on the cover to the worlds she creates with words, Turpentine paints pictures. Relevant focused images and sensual detail draw the reader in and unfold the poet's perceptions. These poems are instantly accessible but not shallow. Because these poems are so well honed it is difficult to choose an extract that does justice to the whole poem but here is one from Divorce:

Ready for official moments

already a compressed autumn in its changing,

the gold ring blackened

like the inside of a teapot

turns into something that old ladies keep,

Poems like Safety, Dislocation and Conflagration perfectly preserve people in moments of memorable time and place. For example:

Trapped every evening by cold,

the word 'family' does not fit.

The unspoken machinery of the house

flares. Our fireplace rumbles,

a contained thunder.

Without an obvious theme, content embraces war-time British childhood, the present day and takes in responses to paintings and books. It provides a female perspective that can be enjoyed by both genders. As turpentine releases paint trapped inside a tube, so Pat's poems release exquisite pictures for all of us to read. And I for one enjoyed them.