A Night in Hell

Jacko is a reporter with a
Tainted reputation
Launching into yesterday's news with a
Healthy dob of skepticism
And some 
Churning
Desperation

Meeting the echoes of
Yesterday's war in a
Small 
Village cemetery


Meeting their context of
Gunfire and
Muddy footprints

Unable to leave one of
His own


Meeting the voices

Hearing their tragedy
Their cursed
Blackened windows and
Closed doors


But he did
Inadvertently manage
To unsmear 
Some window 
To open 
Some door

To bring
Some 
Lost voices

Together

GOODREADS REVIEW

A night in hell by Liam Foxx
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The scenario was intriguing! The ingredients of World War I, a cemetery, the Somme village and a reporter seeking to mend a damaged reputation all waited to be ignited into a reality cloaked in mystery. But somehow the war got in the way. Descriptive detail of old action sounded a little too like many war stories! And the reporter paled back into an inhibited observer. Perhaps that was the author's intention. But somehow the drive of the story seems frayed at the edges and the conclusion doesn't really rescue the original purpose. Perhaps the story spiked with war action may suit male readers more than female.

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Linking to:
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Poetry of The Midnight Zoo

Gypsy child
In a world of rumbling 
Extermination 
Machines
12 year old Andrej
Leads 9 year old Tomas
And both share a Mum role for
Baby Wilma

Imagine these shreds of life
In the cloak of midnights
Stumbling into a zoo

Where 
For a star gate of  
Magical time
The animals who sense more than
You will ever know

Try to tell you

And Alice
In her dark
Long
Woollen cloak 
Waits
To lead them all


p.1 ...the tower now stood against the sky like a blunt unfinished question.
p.3 They were younger than Night had ever been, two scraps of life with scanty limbs clad in worn jackets and boots.
p.91 We Rom are closer to the animals than to people like that. Unburdened, unowned and free.
p.155 But there are many kinds of hungers.
p.157 Her muzzle wrinkled, and Andrej saw a glimpse of teeth and pale tongue. 'They smell the same,' the lioness murmured. 'My cubs smelt as she does. Like pollen.'
p.162 These are cages, so there must be keys.

The Midnight Zoo (2010) - Sonya Hartnett

GOODREADS REVIEW

  The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Here is a novel about children but hardly for children. It needs an adult audience (touting some historical baggage) who seeks a glimpse of a child's world. Here are the Rom, those gypsy wanderers persecuted alongside the Jews in Hitler's madness. And Andrej, Tomas and Wilma are parentless, Rom children. But don't seek some historical jaunt. Feel the cursed? wandering spirit of a child seeking answers of place and identity. What is freedom? There are many kinds of freedoms and hungers. The animals know.
This novel has the fantasy of a parable and the realism of a holocaust.
Imagine these shreds of life
In the cloak of midnights
Stumbling into a zoo
- Extract from my poetic review on my blog Songlines on the Winds

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N.B. Sparkle and Nightflower (1986) - The first book I read by Sonya Hartnett.
A delicious journey of mother and son through some tawdry, weathered inner and outer landscapes.
I read it aloud - cover to cover - to my wild, "non-reading" bunch of Year 10's at the time, and they loved it!

Linking to:
dVerse Open Link Night

Poetic Impressions of The Wind Singer

Aramanth
Land of the Manth people
A giant scarecrow structure 
A special gift
From unknown special people
The wonder of the wind singer

But there emerged scarlet gowned examiners
Who sought to grind the human spirit into
Coloured labels
Maroon for those of valuable obedience
Orange for those with midstream potential and
Grey for those who verged on 
Disposable

Tests 
Ongoing tests
Ensured
The right people were
In the right places

And the key to the windsinger's song was
Invisible
Missing

But there are always those 
Who wish and will
A different world

Bowman and Kestrel
The twins
And the 
Muddle-headed 
Mumpo

They were children
Just children
Cast
Down and
Up into
A labyrinth of journeys

Outer landscapes
Together
Inner landscapes
Alone

Braving the muds of the Underlake
The crumbling parapet above the gorge
Riding wolves and
Soaring in eagles' claws

Seeking the identity of
Their lost souls

The Emperor held 
The map
Aging Queen Num wore
The silver clasp 
The key to
The windsinger's song

And in the shifting shades
Always smile
The old children
Lurking 
Longing
To touch
Their crippling touch
Hoping for some fire to burn them back
To what they should be
~~~~~~

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The Wind Singer (2000)
William Nicholson is a British screenwriter, playwright and novelist.

GOODREADS REVIEW

The Wind Singer by William Nicholson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Aramanth
Sounds like some legendary jewel
But the gem
The walled city
Has lost the sparkle of the wind singer
The strangers' tall tower of
Wooden beams and metal pipes
Has lost the voice of
The soul
Extract from my poetic review - an alternative review on my Gemma's Greyscale Territory blog

An extraordinary fantasy that hints of breaths from old legends and becomes a chameleon of reality and dream! And if you feel the spirit deep down, you will feel the smudges of our society lurking.

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Good Reads discussion: For some strange reason, "The Wind Singer" seems to reflect elements of "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood. Both represent a world of crushing, stifling perfection and the journey of those who seek a way out. But this time, the travellers are children.

 Linking to:
Poets United The Think Tank Thursday ~ Labyrinth
dVerse Poets Pub ~ Open Link Night