A Bench for Billie Holiday: 70 Sonnets

by James Nash

In A Bench for Billie Holiday, James Nash tenderly retraces seventy years of life through seventy new sonnets. Whether lightly sketching moments of truth or revisiting his younger self with the benefit of insight and experience, he imbues each fourteen-line fragment with wit, wisdom and wonder.

Looking back from various locations, each ideal for serious thought (whether the train, a bike or a sea-facing bench), he pieces together autobiographical shards of truth that reflect both the smallest details of his own life and the larger issues we face as a society, nation and species.

A perfect follow-up to his beloved first volume of sonnets, Some Things Matter, this book adds new breadth and depth to the work of one of Yorkshire’s most popular poets.

88 pages, Paperback

Published October 16, 2018

Reviews

[Andrew H · Rating 4 out of 5]

70 sonnets, in some ways, is a continuation of Some Things Matter: 63 Sonnets (2012). The new work is as human as the previous work. In his Foreword, Nash writes: the poems "touch on my sexuality-- an important part of my identity but not the only thing that define me." And that describes the balance of these sonnets exactly. Most are ruminations, reflections on scenes, from biking, or walking, or travelling on trains, written with a rationality that recalls Donald Davie and The Movement. Nash has a fine eye for the countryside and natural life. The most memorable sonnets; however, emerge from reflections on sexual identity-- "Shock Absorber 1969"-- combines pathos and humour brilliantly. The 70 sonnets are characterised by their humility and generosity towards life. Nash is as readable as Neil Powell, John McCullough, Gregory Woods and Andrew McMillan.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved James Nash’s first collection of sonnets, Some Things Matter and had high expectations of this new set of seventy sonnets, one for each year of his life. There’s the same grace and tenderness and an increased awareness of age and the experience of being in the home straight of a life, but for most of the book I felt slightly disappointed with the craftsmanship of some of the poems. However, the final five poems, including the set of three inspired by South Landing at Bridlington are mature, powerful and deeply affecting. A Bench for Billie Holiday is certainly worth looking out, but given the choice, I’d go for Some Things Matter.