Poetry Book Review

I came across The Art of Falling in a heap of poetry books and pamphlets I have sitting on my sideboard. When I picked up I couldn't remember if I'd read it. Nearly all the books there I have read. As I nosed through the first pages some poems felt familiar, but I was hooked and sat down to read on through to others I don't remember. I'm guessing I started reading and then got waylaid. I have finally read the whole book and really enjoyed it.

What I like about Kim Moore's book is that the poems are accessible. I don't have to work out what she is talking about. Another thing I like is her approach - very direct, sometimes with repeating words. The book is split into three sections and my favourite is the first section. Here I found Harley Street Spiritualist Church where the first hymn is I Believe in Angels by Abba, only without the music because Jean has forgotten the tape. It goes to describe who is in the room and will anyone claim her. There is also Boxer, a poem with the idea of undoing what has just occurred, so a sort of backwards poem. Clever. There is humour, joy and surprise in this collection.  The last poem in the first section is The Art of Falling describing all the ways of falling from rain fall and falling stars to the correct way to fall and leaves in Autumn and dropped coins. Brilliant. The second section is headed How I Abandoned My Body to His Keeping and includes several darker poems of remembering or trying to forget. It includes the poem When Someone is Singing  where each line begins when I  and lists various things until the last line when we find out what all this has to do with remembering a name.The third section is a mix of poems, mainly to do with people. There is a poem about John Lennon, and another about Graham Short who engraves things onto tiny objects like the Lord's Prayer onto a pin head (The Master Engraver).

This is a delightful book, one I will return to. The book is published by Seren Books.