RINGShout

The poems in this slim volume cover an array of experiences and the writer’s reaction to them: from the challenges of growing up and finding one’s place in the world (or learning how to manage when we can’t), to the disconnection and banality of loss; from the knowledge of how we came to be, to the passions that created us. And the simple wonder of something extraordinary. There may be magical meanings in them, but if there are, they are known only to jjhudsson.

The opening poem, Scenes from the Screen Room at Christmas, is about contradictions. It records the mild irritation felt by the natural disturbances that accrue during an otherwise peaceful late evening, and the sharp contrast the writer feels between the festive season (December) and the equatorial climate in which the poem is set.

Ghost Abbey is set amongst the ruins of the old abbey church at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK. Here the remains of a medieval Roman Catholic monastery and its great abbey are preserved immediately adjacent to a standing Church of England cathedral, built slightly later but not consecrated as a cathedral until 1914. The poem notices the irony of this architectural arrangement.

The title poem Second Hand tells the story of an inscription found on the inside of a secondhand book. The inscription itself (with the name changed) appears at the head of the poem. The writer turns sleuth in an attempt to discover more about the former owner of the book.

The next poem, I.Q. is an example of how writing can decide to take its own course regardless of the writer’s intent. The form of the poem emulates a Japanese haiku, but beyond these initial parameters the poem evolves into a poignant story all of its own.

The poem Strange Lover is another in the series of poems based on chapters from D.H. Gombrich’s A Little History of the World (Vienna, 1936). This one relates to Chapter 5, entitled ‘The One and Only God’, where Gombrich introduces the Old Testament to his young readers.

We were surprised and rather touched to find the tender lines of Remember to Forget on the back of an MS for one of jjhudsson’s novellas. At first we supposed the lines to be part of that tale, but apparently the Storyteller was merely feeling moribund at the time.

For the final poem in this collection we travel to France, where in Pas de deux, we find the writer struggling to relax on the first day of a holiday.

What we find in reading these lines is sometimes resonant, sometimes familiar; often touching and sympathetic, perhaps, on occasion, insightful, even beautiful; and yes, maybe - in certain places - a little mystical. We think these reasons enough to publish these poems. We hope that you enjoy them - or at least are as intrigued by them, as we have been.

Two circular windows high on a roman facade,

Eyeless black yet drawing in all the world to make upside-down premonitions.

Two palm trees, unparallel,

Dance coquettishly around one another;

Their forbidden love will not explode the shame.

Two stone arches (of a dozen or more),

Built to light the silk whispers cocooned within;

Their frayed faces line the hotel foyer like grubs.

Nine lanterns adorning the mulberry trees,

Lording it over naked lavenders;

Despiked already and so made ready for a remembered winter.

Outranked by the whiskery blonde demi-generals that parade in between.

Two over-sized flower pots, hardly containing too-small olive trees,

Straining to do nothing for a decade;

Two tables, two chairs, heads together against the unlikely rain of yesterday.

What does the table say to the chair?

I love you?

Two people, engrossed in their e-books,

Unaware of the moments passing as urgently as the work-shy dragonfly

Book Two: Small Ending

Preface

I. Scenes from the screen room at Christmas

II. Ghost Abbey

III. Second Hand

IV. I.Q.

V. Strange Lover

VI. Remember to forget

VII. Pas de deux

Notes

Ringshout is the collected poetry of jjhudsson. The completed work will comprise seven booklets, each of six to eight poems. The EPUB booklets will be released over the coming year.

Book 1 - Splash!

Book 2 - Small Ending

Book 3 - Second Hand

Book 4 - On Somerton Beach

Book 5 - Last Supper

Book 6 - Unbedded Again

Book 7 - Ringshout