Poetry Book Review: Archery in the UK

Archery in the UK by Nick Reeves and Ingrid Wilson (2023). Available on Amazon.com.

While reading this beautiful and deeply-moving collection of poems, certain associations kept popping into my head. Sonnets from the Portuguese. Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Robert Browning. This book is quintessentially a collection of verses devoted to Love – the remarkable uniting of two cherished souls, love of the land, love of nature, love of beauty, and love of the language that allows us to shape our thoughts, feelings, and dreams into words.

Most of the poems in this collection are not sonnets, but the quality, tone, rhythm, and spirit of these verses capture the essence of Shakespeare, the two Brownings, and classic British lyrical poetry in general. Love in this poetic realm spreads its wings wider and flies higher than mortals are allowed in the ordinary world. The poets invite us into their secret bower of shared passion and romance, reminding us that love is a beautiful gift, and so is every precious moment of our lives.

This is an excerpt from Honeymoon Night, whose simplicity, sincerity, and repetition captured my heart and helped me to visualize the scene so clearly:

“. . . Our bodies entangled

our minds even more so

complete, I love you oh

so sweet, I love you so.

The candlelight flickers and flares

trickles tallow

temptation’s so sweet – oh

I do so love you so.

As husband and wife

we awake on the morrow

‘I do’ and ‘I will’ so

I’ll always love you so.

Our honeymoon song’s

taken up by the sparrow:

I do so love you so

I do so love you so.

~

Archery in the UK was published by Experiments in Fiction (Ingrid Wilson).

Nick Reeves’s website: Nick Reeves’s Blog

Dawn Pisturino

March 1, 2023

Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

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