Love. The four-letter word that has captured creatives for centuries is the defining theme of LOVE – A Collection of Poetry and Prose on Loving and Being in Love, the second of the Collections of Poetry and Prose book series compiled by Robin Barratt.
LOVE is a varied assortment of poetry and short prose from contributors around the world from Australia to England, from South Africa to Sri Lanka to the USA, to name a few. The origins of the pieces are very prominent in the submissions as they switch between contemporary and traditional styles with distinctive cultural influences running throughout and a real sense of place in many of the stories.
The book is part of a series, the first a replica of the same idea but with loneliness as the theme. The foreword from Barrat explains the main aim of this project was to provide another platform and avenue for creatives across the globe to have their work published and read, regardless of their defining characteristics or biographies. Barrat isn’t a poet and had, by personal admission, accepted nearly every submission and in its original state. I think this shows somewhat in the overall quality of the pieces.
The title boasts over 150 submissions of varying length from over eighty writers and poets. The content takes us on a epic love story from infatuation, the new spark of a relationship, brief sweet encounters, the tender familiarity of an all-time love, to the mundane, everyday tasks that bind two people as one; but it also balances more darker themes of unrequited love, jealousy, vulnerability in love, finding love online, love fading and the painful moving on from a relationship to pastures new. There’s also platonic love depicted between siblings and animals, and religious love, as well as the love of sentimental objects, capturing a wide variety of meanings and relationships.
Whenever dealing with love you will always run against the tide of clichés. I think even these viewpoints should have a level of endearment awarded. As a love-struck, dopamine-addled fool you feel that no one else in the history of the world has felt this feeling. I’m sure we can all remember times in our lives when love has made us conform to our more cringe-worthy selves. So despite my salubrious scepticism, I do believe there is a place for poems like that, though there does seem to be a generous amount within this collection.
Despite that, there’s some absolutely beautiful pieces contained within these pages. My personal favourites include:
‘Today’ by Rachel Walker, which has a lovely descriptive normality – being with your favourite person in the world, of those little blessed moments that add up to something infinite. Walker’s second poem, ‘7 years 4 days 11 months’, is also a heartfelt calendar of love and how it can haunt and liberate a soul.
Molly Donald’s ‘Tell Me It’s Real’ banishes all pink hearts and butterflies in a poem about authentic love that is ‘more than a Hollywood movie’.
Keith Nunes’ ‘Meeting on a Footpath’ details how ‘lovers effortlessly crush each other’ even when the relationship is no more, and ties in nicely with ‘The Tone of Your Voice’ by Martin Redfern depicts witnessing the heart wrenching observation of the one he loves loving someone else. This could also be grouped with ‘Black Cream for Ruined Hearts’ by David Hollywood, which has an excellent use of sounds and visceral, vivid language.
‘A Little Tin’ by John Stockdill resonated, as it told the story of responding to hate with love; ‘only kind words’ can be more effective than anything else in reaching a person.
‘Cruelty’ by Lonita Nugrahayu dissects the nature of love, namely how ‘we fall in love … we rise in hate’ when healing from a relationship.
‘One Word Only’ by Sarah Spivey was a grand and beautiful testament to self love in the face of any flaws glimpsed in the mirror at the age of thirty-seven having just woken up.
The short poem ‘Love’ by Andrew Hunter sums up the sentiment of the collection perfectly likening the heart to a strange muscle that ‘beats us up’.
There is something for everyone in this book. I was delighted by the variation in writing styles and subject interpretation. If you’re looking for new writers with fresh perspectives, from a range of places, then this collection is worth your time.