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Field Notes
Published January 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 22, 2021
Shortlisted for the Rubery Book Award 2021
'To hold a dying bird in your hands / is like holding an argument' is the arresting opening to ‘Watching the Nestbox', one of my favourite poems from this excellent collection - it's a vivid, textured description of newly hatched swifts which develops into a celebration of the lifeforce. We're never in any doubt that Anna Selby loves and respects nature, and she is intent on engaging with it first hand - indeed, the poems began life ‘in the field’, some even written underwater on waterproof notebooks! Her practice pays dividends, as reading her is an immersive experience - her poems genuinely feel like direct dispatches from the deep, with a strong sense of immediacy and proximity. The book as a whole is a love letter to nature, teeming with evocative imagery: the language is taut and textured, particularly in its descriptions of wildlife - fish 'shine like coins', birds' wings 'whisper to the dark', and the world comes alive in all its creaturely glory.
'To hold a dying bird in your hands / is like holding an argument' is the arresting opening to ‘Watching the Nestbox', one of my favourite poems from this excellent collection - it's a vivid, textured description of newly hatched swifts which develops into a celebration of the lifeforce. We're never in any doubt that Anna Selby loves and respects nature, and she is intent on engaging with it first hand - indeed, the poems began life ‘in the field’, some even written underwater on waterproof notebooks! Her practice pays dividends, as reading her is an immersive experience - her poems genuinely feel like direct dispatches from the deep, with a strong sense of immediacy and proximity. The book as a whole is a love letter to nature, teeming with evocative imagery: the language is taut and textured, particularly in its descriptions of wildlife - fish 'shine like coins', birds' wings 'whisper to the dark', and the world comes alive in all its creaturely glory.
February 20, 2021
I've been enjoying this poetry pamphlet all week. I just love it. It's so beautiful. Anna Selby's deep fascination with the natural world and careful attention to it is so mesmerising. I love 'Light in the Winter Forest' - that "3am-feeling of a nightclub" and the sensation of surrendering to the strobes, is so brilliant. That many of the poems were written underwater just adds to the joy and intrigue. Highly recommended!
April 27, 2021
It's a collection that lives up to the title - it's very much a collection notes in the form of poetry. I enjoyed some of these and really didn't like others. The martime theme didn't really work for me. Some interesting work but I'm not that focused on sea cucumbers and other sea dwellers.
July 19, 2022
3.5 stars. The art in the endeavour was greater than some of the content but it is a tricky one in that regard, as its uniqueness lies in the writing context... Arrowhead Hummock was a particular highlight.
June 20, 2021
You can notice the lack of editing in her middle poems
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews