Song of the Slums by Richard Harland
Allen & Unwin. 2013.
a gas filled airship
leers over
Swale House
swollen with the warts of wealth
she played a harp in those days
but chance
launches
Astor into
the beauty of gang music
in the slag heaps of Slumtown
and she finds
the drums
chance
spins
Astor through
Granny Rouse's world
gives her the friendship of
the eerie Mav
the dynamic
curious excitement of
Verrol
and the
chance for a role in
the Rowdies
she lives
the drums
until
London
a world cluttered with
steam-powered charabancs
stream-lined velocipedes
basketwork rickshaws
and
plutocrats
swollen with militia
and political mania
slum music
rages
slashes
the tiaras and
conventional pomposities
stirring the soul of the street
giving it a voice
giving her
a voice
and
a drumming soul
Linking to:
Poets United - Poetry Pantry
MY GOODREADS REVIEW
Song of the Slums by Richard HarlandMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
It's the Age of Steam with a vibrant heartbeat growing in the slums. Astor has been groomed in the harp, but when she is left in the wealthy Swale household under rather strange marriage circumstances, and escapes, she inadvertently grooms a whole new lifestyle with matriarch Granny Rouse and her slum gang. It is there that Astor finds her real music, her real rhythms and her soul.
View all my reviews
9 comments:
This looks like a very readable Steampunk novel. I shall look out for it.
Gemma, this is very moving! Do do have a way of bringing a book alive in poetry. I like how you have repeated the word 'drums' throughout. Your poem has certainly stirred my interest....
Interesting book preview. Intriguing, really.
ha. your poetic book reviews are cool...giving it voice, giving her voice...i like that...and i like the use of music in this as well...
Thank you for the lovely review ~ Very interesting storyline ~
Gemma, I had never come across a Poetic book review. I like the idea of the main character finding her voice in the end, despite the hardships and ordeals in between!
I especially like the closing, where she finds her voice and has "a drumming soul". Stirring tale.
An intriguing preview Gemma! A preview steeped in Poetry and musical insights. How nicely done!
Hank
Interesting... a poetic review:) I like it. Sounds like a good read indeed.
Post a Comment