Pasture and Flock: New and Selected Poems

by Anna Jackson

There are some poets you travel the routes ofso often you could feel your way in the dark, that turn, that corner, and then the plummettowards the end. What does it give you, after all, to meet in person in a room? A thoughtthe dog doesn't share, when, having knownthe followed route, the stored scent, an affair of the air, here isthe other dog! Incarnate! Guessed and host! 'Poets know words, know routes, know ghosts'Uneasy nights out with dead Russian poets, dalliances with German gasfitters and emotionally fraught games of badminton are brought together for the first time, along with a brand new body of work, in this time-spanning selection of Anna Jackson's poetry. Local gothic, suburban pastoral and answerings-back to literary icons are all enhanced by Jackson's light hand and sly humour. Pastoral yet gritty, intellectual and witty, sweet but with stings in their tails, the poems and sequences collected in Pasture and Flock are essential reading for both long-term and new admirers of Jackson's slanted approach to lyric poetry.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction

76 pages, ebook

Published March 8, 2018

Reviews

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are funny, inventive poems. I like most of them a great deal, the old and the new. Maybe particularly the new...

[Marcus Hobson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this collection of both new and selected poems from Anna Jackson. Having a tantalising glimpse of some of her earlier works has made me want to read these in their entirety, rather than the pared down selections here.
Also, she mentions notes in some of the other volumes and in places I want to know more.
I like the poems from 'I, Clodia' and they brought back half remembered memories of Classical History, the Roman Republic and a volume about The Latin Love Poets I have owned since I was a teenager.

At one point I found a short series of poems about a female photographer; The pretty photographer, The photographer’s hallway, The photographer in the Library, and The photographer’s Olympics. Four poems over six pages open a window on the life of the photographer, tell me so much about her, likes and dislikes, daily life. I love the feelings that I am left with. Happy to have known her briefly, wishing that I could meet her and talk about the pictures in her hall.

A great collection with a wonderful black and white and red cover, trees and hens and just a hint of red writing.

[Anuja · Rating 3 out of 5]

[3.5]

[scarlettraces · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fuck I love Jackson.