Music, truth and life -- Louth author publishes his second book of poems
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Music features prominently in a second collection of poems, which has just been published by the Louth-based author Rob Joynson.
‘Vignettes And Bagatelles’, which is available to buy on Amazon, priced £6, consists of word pictures, partly of moments that have caught Joynson’s imagination and partly of his experiences at a range of musical events.
He says: “At a time when photographic images and sound recordings are unreliable, the poet’s ability to capture some sort of truth seems worthwhile.”
However, being truthful can also involved a wide range of emotions, from joy to gloom, as his poems in the book testify.
In ‘I Don’t Have All The Time’, Joynson attends a “low-key concert; cello and piano; an aged audience.” The humming and the singing “are uplifting; like a warm incoming tide; a swell rising; higher and higher; but only “to remind us; we will all drown soon”.
At another guitar concert “where waves of sound can crash; rise in powerful swell; strong and smooth and sweet; emotional in its science; harmonious in its geometry”, Joynson celebrates the genius of Bach.
But this is a highly eclectic 80-page collection, drawing on a wide range of concisely drawn observations on life.
Such as when he attends a Remembrance event (“uneasy with the Lord’s Prayer; and national anthem; and civic regalia; and un-doffed hats”). Or when he sees a drunk crossing the street one mid-afternoon.
And there’s lots of quirky humour too, such as in ‘She Won’t Be Told Off’, about a dog that’s told off for having a poo in the hall. “I’m an old dog, what do you expect?”, it replies.