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Broken Sky by Lee Stannard (Eclecta Books, 2014)

Reviewed by Tim Shearer

 

If 'a collection of stories, haiku and longer poems' conveys a somewhat fragmentary impression, it's one that the ambitious, innovative structure does much to transcend. The writing has an urgent, spasmodic intensity: 

 

I put The Trial on my bedside cabinet and fell on my bed. One of the top windows into the garden was open. I got up and tried to pull it closed. I had to tug it a few times before it shut. I fell on my bed again. I wanted to sleep until the next day. The lampshade was twirling like a giant sycamore helicopter above the TV's snowy sky without the aerial plugged in and I threw up on my Victim Information card.

 

The collection also features a number of arresting illustrations by Helena Gaudekova (from a series of paintings called Reimagining Ensō).

 

 

 

 

 

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