Some Things Matter: 63 Sonnets

by James Nash

In 2009, having attended a workshop on sonnet-writing, Leeds-based poet James Nash took home a half-finished poem and worked it up into a well-received romantic gift. Intrigued and inspired by the framework offered by the Shakespearean sonnet, he wrote another, and another... By Christmas 2011, James had spent the intervening period writing almost nothing else - and had produced more than one hundred and sixty sonnets in total.

'Some Things Matter' is the end result of this process: the finest sixty-three examples edited and ordered by the poet, and collected in print for the first time by Valley Press. By turns philosophical, satirical, warm and bittersweet, the finished sequence spans the full gamut of the human experience - seasons change, friends (and pets) are lost and found, and everything grows older (sometimes gracefully). Any reader will find much to identify with and enjoy within these 882 lines; a landmark achievement in the career of a great Yorkshire writer.

--- Don't miss the best of James' non-sonnet poetry, 'A Bit of an Ice Breaker: Selected and Uncollected Poems', available now exclusively on Kindle. ---

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Nash is a well-known figure on the Yorkshire literary scene, a witty, articulate host at all manner of events, and a writer of grace and tenderness. The sixty-three Shakespearean sonnets in this collection are written with great economy in simple language, but are powerful and lingering in their impact. This is a book I know that I will return to again and again. Some things really do matter. If you don't already know what they are then read this book.

[Jeanne Ellin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tender sharp lots of depth in small space poetry to go back to again and again Don't be put off by the Sonnet label richly relevant to living now yet will still be read beyond our time.

[Andrew H · Rating 4 out of 5]

These 63 sonnets encapsulate a life lived. Some are heartfelt, some are gently self-mocking, but all bear a human touch. New life is breathed into a familiar form-- and these are real sonnets, ones that rhyme and scan, not loose 14 liners. Well worth reading for their tender evocation of friendship, gay love, and nature.