Morecambe Bay and Local Poets edited by Graham Austin is a slim volume filled with poetry inspired by the Morecambe Bay area of North Lancashire. 

The passionate works evoke images of the windswept, wild and often unpredictable seascapes that can be found there.  The cover image illustrates the diversity of the panorama, from flora through marshland to sea, sand and the mountains beyond.  This image reflects the contents with a range of poems to cater for every taste.  The concrete poem “Skywriting”, by Mark Carson, was shaped to mirror the flight pattern of the flocks of sea-birds observed in the area.

I very much enjoyed the brief historical preface, by Jennifer Snell, which added an extra dimension to the poetry.  As an infrequent, but enthusiastic visitor to the area I also found myself making great use of the maps of the region, which illustrate the places referred to within the works.  I enjoyed tracking the detailed journey of the “White Horses” of Graham Austin’s opening poem.

The collection conjures up images of the beautiful scenery of the Morecambe Bay area.  The tone is consistent albeit rather bleak at times.  These are not jolly romps through bustling resorts, rather the focus remains firmly on the awesome effect of the elements.  John Hindle’s “In the Arms of Nature” is a gentle picture of a midsummer sunset.  There is humour to be found, though, for example in “The Turn”, by Kate Davies the unexpected ending brought a wry smile as I read.

Although many of the poems are inspired by the scenery, several reflect some of the more humanistic elements which have occurred historically and more recently.  For example “George Fox Crosses the Bay”, by Neil Curry, is based on a visit to Swarthmoor Hall by the founder of the Quaker movement in 1652 and Graham Austin’s moving piece “Behind the Face” inspired by the tragic deaths of twenty-three Chinese cockle pickers in 2004.

The tone is consistent throughout, accomplishing its goal of capturing the atmosphere and diversity of one of my favourite coastal regions.  This is a collection of works to keep, revisit often and value.  Each sale of the anthology gives donations to three very worthy and highly appropriate charities: The Royal National Lifeboat Institution, The North West Air Ambulance and Bay Search and Rescue; an excellent bonus reason to purchase – and for only £5. 

The contributing writers in the anthology are:

Graham Austin,  Chris Kelly,  Mark Carson,  Angela Christopher,  Jennifer Copley,  Jean Cowgill,  Neil Curry,  Duncan Darbishire,  Kate Davis,  John Hindle,  Alison Jenner, and  Maggie Norton.

You can purchase copies of Morecambe Bay and Local Poets edited by Graham Austin from Graham at:

Dunelm, Shawfield Road, Baycliff, Ulverston LA12 9RG.

One copy, £5.00 inc. P&P; 2 to 4 copies, £11.00 to £20 inc. P&P. Cheques made payable to Graham Austin please.

The book is also available from the Lancashire Writing Hub bookshop, or from Sutton’s Bookshop, 48 Market St, Ulverston, Cumbria LA12 7LS.

Review by Polly Todd for the Lancashire Writing Hub.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 27th, 2011 at 2:14 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.