A dazzlingly various collection, Local Honeyjuggles its opposites with
panache - heart and intellect, melancholy and zest, derangement and
perspicacity. Beginning with early stirrings of logical thought in a
Palaeolithic cave, the collection ranges through times, places and
viewpoints before homing close in the last poems to recent family
predicaments that are personal in their particulars, universal in their
resonance. En route, four sections of sonnets and sestinas, blues and
ballad rhythms transport us through themes and places: mind and love and
nonsense - the moon - Greece, Italy, Morocco, Iceland, the haunted
Elysian forest of memory. The book is animated by a rich cast of
characters: shepherds and beekeepers, a Sufi flute-player, a reprobate
fireman, a passionate devotee of ortolan buntings, an admiral who
composes piano music at sea.
Restless in its craftsmanship, responsive in its moods, with gracenotes
of wit and meaningful play, Local Honey delights with the music of
words, insights and ideas.