Perfect-bound paperback | 5 x 8 pages | 80 pages | 979-8-9850080 | January 17, 2022
Shaking the Persimmon Tree, which contains several prize-winning poems, promises to take you drinking sambuca with Vincent Van Gogh, fly fishing on the Ganges, and rolling naked in the elephant grass. In his new collection Marc Woodward writes of time spent in Italy, India and elsewhere, as well as drawing from the rural environment of his home in Devon, England. These are beautifully crafted, melodic poems which lightly carry their intrinsic darkness. Whilst there are poems about cancer, Covid and loss, these are balanced by poems about love and nature, and often the author's sense of humour shines through, even if at times it's just a glimmer through the back door of a morgue!
Shaking the Persimmon Tree
Reviews
About The Author
'In these searching, songful poems, Marc Woodward reflects on the ricketiness of life;
of the body, and of the certainty of earthworms. His imagery elevates the natural world to its rightful place. Birds, sky and trees glimmer like new-found things while his pragmatism puts on its boots, picks up its keys and looks you straight in the eye.'
Helen Ivory, 'The Anatomical Venus' (Bloodaxe), editor of Ink, Sweat & Tears.
Marc Woodward's poetry 'links the personal and the countryside by providing both background and emotional intensity. Despite his non-urban base he has a wide range of subjects in his work going from the English countryside to Italy, Switzerland, the Ganges, and many places elsewhere. To read his poetry is to go from images to ideas to images seamlessly.'
Patricia Oxley, founder and editor of Acumen Literary Journal.
Of the author's previous work:
'Beautifully crafted poems... that sing in the dark of darkness.'
Canto
'Like John Burnside's poetry, Woodward writes gently and concentratedly about things vanishing and uncertain.'
The Blue Nib
