Beyond Stillness

by Mark Roper

A true hymn to heaven and earth, Beyond Stillness is a moving, sensitive exploration of our relationship with the damaged natural world, seen up close and often in astonishing, affecting detail. Comprising poems that express, often simultaneously, both wonder and grief, with his trademark precision Mark Roper's new collection observes and sketches the world around him with an enviable lightness, even as his perspective gradually widens to include memories of his upbringing, a growing awareness of his own health and mortality.
Throughout, we hear the naturalist's self-doubt ("If I could learn / to go without saying" - 'River') but this only brings us closer to both the human witness and to the greater subject of his fascination.
Greatly admired for his distinctive, sensitive depictions of the natural world, Roper is no stranger to listening, and the silence that arrives at the end of many of these poems is one that brims with meaning, and which, with unerring judgement, he allows to ring.

Genres: Poetry

92 pages, Paperback

Published October 24, 2022

Reviews

[hystericprayingmantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

i think i have a problem reading men🥲

[leni swagger · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I want to stay here forever,
my hands in the earth of this earth."

Very nice collection of nature poetry, but none of them particularly stood out to me.
The line,"We can't, it seems, leave each other alone" from "San Ignacio Lagoon" made me laugh, though.

[sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something will survive. It might not be us, but something will.

[Setanta H · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's writing on times of conflict and war are intriguing.

[jente · Rating 3 out of 5]

some good, most of it doesn't stand out (gelezen voor Contemporary Irish Lit)