| The Beachcombers Report |
Paul Maddern
ISBN-13 978-1-906285-33-3
HB £8.99
Paul Maddern has a sense both of the necessary rhythms of a poem – something that looks right to the eye and sounds right to the ear – and also of poetry's conscience. There is technique here, there is insight, there is passion, knowledge, zeal.
Ian Sansom
On one occasion Maddern says: 'For I would tell you simply…', but thankfully he never quite delivers on that promise. The p oems lead us astray, through strange landscapes and noir cityscapes…they deftly knit together non-sequiturs and scene-changes. They segue into poems by other poets… they have gargantuan stipulations for the most mundane of activities. They refuse to provide crescendos and imagistic flourishes where expected, instead furnishing further lyrical qualification and explanation. In short, they constantly and suavely surprise.
Justin Quinn