She Who Walks With Stones And Sings: Collected Poems [Paperback]

Astonishly rich poetry, full of spirit and humour, these poems touch the reader at the deepest level. Rachael Clyne draws much of her inspiration from nature and her love for the Goddess, as well as from her Jewish background. Rachael uses poetry to express different aspects of the human journey: death and loss, family, relationships and she comments with humour on the challenges of aging.

Rachael Clyne's poetry has the power to call your attention to life as it is, not seen through some pretty pretence or vacuous filter but directly and to the point, yet always with compassion both for herself and her subject. Rachael's vision can make us laugh, cry, feel anger or joy as the rhythms within her writing awaken the passion of our inner witness.

Rachael Clyne has been writing and performing poetry for nearly twenty years. Following an acting career, she performed in London with Angels of Fire and since moving to the West Country in 1991 she has also performed her poetry at venues in Bath and Bristol, including the Bath Literary Festival in 1996. Along with two other women poets, she formed the group Erato, producing performances of their own and other women’s poetry, to much acclaim. Rachael is a psychotherapist and artist as well as author. Her recent self-help book "Breaking The Spell – The Key To Recovering Self-esteem" includes some of her poems as well as advice on the topic. She lives in Glastonbury and draws her much of her inspiration from nature and her love for the Goddess, as well as her Jewish background. Rachael also uses poetry to express different aspects of the human journey: death and loss, family, relationships and she comments with humour on the challenges of aging.

Two poems from the collection:

Cape Cornwall

On the path, a man lies buried
nearby the grave of a dog
empty leash
coiled grass snake

A bleak promontory rises
uncompromising death’s head
topped by crematoria chimney
memorial to tin plunder

Crossing a narrow rock bridge
Charybdis fumes below
black rock teeth bite into a savage sea
they cast our friend’s bones
to wind and wave
here at the edge
where wild meets wild

You sit reluctant
on the threshold
as sinister waves
suck at your soul
unready yet to embrace the stark rage
of other deaths looming

A rowboat, silhouette black
bobs in the distance

Yet there is healing here
embracing the edge
where wild meets wild

- Rachael Clyne

Islets Of Langerhan

(a diabetic lament)

Paint me a sky
rose and gold
exotic paradise with sleepy lagoon
cry of parakeet winging over treetops
on steamy mountain slopes

I dream of a sweet archipelago
where honey blossom drowns the senses
and chocolate pools are fringed with meringue

But these mysterious isles
remain forever out of reach
a horizon fantasy
for this small vessel is becalmed
as a sugary undertow
crystallises the bows
and I starve in a sea of plenty

- Rachael Clyne