Thursday 19 July 2007

Two books

A parcel arrived from Amazon yesterday, which was a nice surprise. Not that I hadn't ordered it, obviously, just that usually the postman's rather nervous about trying to force them through the letterbox, and so I have to wait until I can get to the central post office to collect (I know, I know, if I thought about it, I'd just get them delivered to work).
Anyway, the parcel contained Harriet Tarlo's Poems 1990-2003 and Actual Air, by David Berman. He's the main mover behind the band Silver Jews, who I've loved for a long while now, but he's also first and foremost a poet, so I'm looking forward to reading it. I bought Harriet Tarlo's book on the strength of one poem, so it'll be intriguing to see if the rest lives up to it. She's a nature poet of sorts, but definitely coming from the more 'innovative' side of the poetry spectrum. As always with Shearsman, incidentally, it's a really beautifully produced book, which is always a bonus.
I'm also waiting for two other books, which I stupidly grouped in the same delivery so that one is now being held up by the harder to find of the two. They're Jane Hirshfield's Selected Poems, and Helen Macdonald's Shaler's Fish. Both come very highly recommended by a whole load of people whose judgement I trust, so I eagerly await their arrival.

No comments: