Lunar Moths by Nina Antonia
The Black Light Engine Room Press
As in all things there are fashions in poetry, yet the thread of gold that runs through excellence always defeats these affectations. So for lovers of poetry the arrival of a new publication is always exciting, though I must admit to viewing this volume with a certain curiosity. I am very well acquainted with Nina Antonia's previous books, ranging from a novel, The Greenwood Faun, to a number of biographical works, including the defining Incurable, the life of the ill-fated 1890's poet Lionel Johnson; therefore one can visualise my curiosity with regard to a book of poetry.
This was quickly answered, as one delights in wide-ranging themes, employing tumbling imagery which in my case rekindled the guttering flame of past memories like a long lost and lamented tune. In Bric-a Brac, an old man has died leaving his shop and contents to his grieving widow. And here the poet subtly intertwines the chaotic, but now silent, jumble of the shop to the conflicting emotions of his distraught wife.
Chatterton, Euston, 2018, is an excellent example of her impressionistic eye; here, as in all of the poems, she exhibits a subtle warmth coupled to a vivid imagination. Images are created that flicker in the mind long after the book is put down. It is not for me to analyse in depth each and every one of the thirteen poems within, that is left to the reader. Yet in one line the author is incorrect when she writes, The poet's task is often thankless. Wrong! The appreciation by readers is essentially private, the pleasure she instills is also personal, only the creators of the poems themselves are left unaware of this.
This is a truly delightful collection and one hopes that we may expect many more from Nina Antonia's pen.
(Godfrey Brangham)
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