A poem can remove the thorn from any lion's paw - but by the same token a poet may have to ask the lion to tend her wound. Penelope Shuttle's new collection, "Sandgrain and Hourglass", charts a variety of transactions between poet-self and wound, between wound and beast. A major preoccupation is her continuing experience of loss, particularly the way time modulates and redefines grief. Some aspects of human experience can be too painful or difficult to bear except through poetry. As Ted Hughes said, "poetry is a way of speaking to people we've lost when it is too late". In these poems - as in her previous book "Redgrove's Wife" - Shuttle continues such conversations with her husband Peter Redgrove, her father Jack Shuttle, and her close friend L.H.S., among others. Her engagement with the world's manifold possibilities is also strongly present in Sandgrain and Hourglass - A machine for grading kisses? Edward Thomas translated into Japanese? A stolen reindeer? Faust? Francis Bacon's mirror? Bedtime? The possibilities are endless.
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"Shuttle's originality is everywhere evident, her response to loss both surprising and moving." --- Stephen Knight, Independent on Sunday.
"Her poems of mourning...are among the best she has written." --- Elaine Feinstein, The Times.
"A wonderful book of poetry of love and loss by Penelope Shuttle about her late husband, poet Peter Redgrove. It spoke to me very strongly, having lost my own husband not so long ago." --- Maureen Lipman, Daily Express.
"Her poems of mourning...are among the best she has written." --- Elaine Feinstein, The Times.
"A wonderful book of poetry of love and loss by Penelope Shuttle about her late husband, poet Peter Redgrove. It spoke to me very strongly, having lost my own husband not so long ago." --- Maureen Lipman, Daily Express.
About the Author
Penelope Shuttle has published seven collections of poems since 1980, including a "Selected Poems" in 1998 (Poetry Book Society Recommendation). "Redgrove's Wife" (Bloodaxe Books, 2006), was shortlisted for both the Forward Prize and T.S. Eliot Prize. Her latest collection is "Sandgrain and Hourglass" (Bloodaxe Books, 2010). She has also published five novels, and is co-author of two prose works, "The Wise Wound" and "Alchemy for Women". Since 1970 Penelope Shuttle has lived in Falmouth, Cornwall, and was married to the poet Peter Redgrove who died in 2003.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Penelope Shuttle has an impressive back catalogue of poetry to her name already, but this book is one of her best yet. Many of the poems here are love poems to her late husband, poet Peter Redgrove. They offer a portrait of a marriage in all its honesty and longevity, and show the poet in mourning, yet able to laugh at herself, and charm the reader, with her wit. Although these are elegies, there is no self-pity or sentimentalisation here, and many of the poems are celebratory. Shuttle has mastery of the language and there is plenty of evidence to back up that claim. This is a book to buy for anyone who is happily married, anyone who has ever lost a loved one, and anyone who enjoys good, accessible but not facile, poetry. So many loving memories are garnered and shared here. This book speaks of sadness, but also joy, a zest for life and a meditation on love and loss. Buy it.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Ben
Format:Paperback
What was the great love affair between poets in our time? Wrong. Penelope Shuttle and Peter Redgrove. Along with the previous 'Redgrove's Wife' this new collection by Penelope Shuttle is essential for anyone wanting to experience some of the best poetry being written in Britain right now - lucid, gutsily imaginative elegies for her late husband (who was also profoundly original). It's quite a treat to spend time in Shuttle's imagination. An unashamed visionariness dances on the page, healing with its wisdom. Unforgettable.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a wonderfully uplifting book of elegies and lyrics that can be read as easily as a novel, but which touches depths that are rarely found in prose. Shuttle at her sure-footed best - and an object lesson in how to make free verse really sing.
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