20th April
Back in April I had the pleasure of attending a book launch in my local Library, Against the Pull of Time is the latest pamphlet by Jenna Plewes, published by V. Press. It was a lovely way to spend a sunny Friday evening.
The poems in this book were written on retreat on the island of Iona. Although some people in the audience had been there it is not a place I know. Or at least it wasn’t. By the end of the Launch, I felt I knew the geography of Iona and the feeling of the island well.
Jenna’s poems are brimming with a sense of place and left many of us longing to go and explore Iona for ourselves.
During the Q&A following the reading, it was interesting to hear what people thought and to listen to how different poems touched us. This demonstrates the eclectic coverage Jenna’s poems have.
Some people arrived part way through so we were lucky enough to hear some poems twice and listen to some Jenna had not planned to read at the launch.
A relaxed event. If the sun hadn’t been glowing, Jenna’s words alone would have filled the evening with warmth.
Find a sample poem and buy a copy here.
“Against the Pull of Time is a spiritual and physical journey. On the island of Iona Jenna Plewes travels far into herself to come to terms with loss, ageing and mortality. The outer landscape is wonderfully realized. Sea, shore, shells, birds and buildings play a central role in her inner exploration. The immediacy of the pared writing in this sequence, its telling details and the sharing of a deeply-felt experience, draw the reader into Plewes’ journey.” Myra Schneider
“In tender, beautiful and unsentimental language Jenna Plewes takes us on a journey, walking barefoot on wet sand, sitting in a ruined nunnery, musing on the shoreline ‘handcuffed to the sea’. it is a long time since I have read a collection that moved me so. One line somehow says it all: ‘so many things are precious in the leaving and the letting go’. This is a collection I want to read over and over – also rare these days.” Roselle Angwin
Against the Pull of Time is very very deep-rooted and seamlessly woven.
© 2018 V. Press
awritersfountain 