The gentleness of the very tall

Plot

From Publishers Weekly France, a poet from Northumberland, received England's Poetry Book Society Recommendation for this collection of startling, sensuous poems that seem assembled from shards of contemporary life, medieval tropes and the stuff of the natural world. Surreal imagery, grounded in clear, lyrical terms, is often incorporated into the traditional subjects of love and death (one poem is noted to be ``after Neruda''), as when the heart is questioned to be, ``A mollusk/that doesn't know? An act of the imagination?'' France is seen at her best in her vivid poems about animals, in the gorgeous title poem and in ``Acknowledged Land,'' a long piece that imagines life in Northern England a millennium ago. Perhaps most captivating is her natural tone and down-to-earth humor which, when combined with a chiseled, highly wrought style--in forms including long-lined couplets, triplets and indented, staggered stanzas--render the poems both sophisticated and accessible, and leave room for play: ``I levitate, get lost in space, spawn/ holograms of seraphim playing merry hell.'' Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Product Description Linda France's poetry is both sensuous and sensitive, peeling back layers of language and meaning in pursuit of honesty. Carol Rumens has called her 'a clever, accessible new voice. Energetic, ranging, witty, candid, informal and excitingly individualistic'. The Gentleness of the Very Tall, her second collection, treads the tightrope between freedom and threat, violence and love. Evoking a world under pressure - personal and political - the poems strive for balance and transformation, with an uncompromising pragmatism. From the Back Cover Linda France's poetry is both sensuous and sensitive, peeling back layers of language and meaning in pursuit of honesty. Carol Rumens has called her 'a clever, accessible new voice. Energetic, ranging, witty, candid, informal and excitingly individualistic'. The Gentleness of the Very Tall, her second collection, treads the tightrope between freedom and threat, violence and love. Evoking a world under pressure - personal and political - the poems strive for balance and transformation, with an uncompromising pragmatism.