Book description
One of the most significant voices of his generation from Wales, a
new book by Duncan Bush is an eagerly awaited event. The Flying
Trapeze, his sixth poetry collection and the first to appear after his
notable 'Midway', is characteristically unsentimental, tough-minded,
and fiercely lyrical. Many poems are inspired by places he has lived
in or travelled to including: Australia, Greece, Germany, France,
Luxembourg and the United States. In 'Avedon's Drifters' he chronicles
marginal lives as portrayed in masterly black & white photographs:
vagrants, gypsies, minor criminals, the burnt-out, the bereft. In
contrast there are poems like 'A Blood Rose' steeped in the
full-blooded colours of the tango, and 'Golden Girl' in praise of
superlative athletes. There is also a touch of bitter political satire
in pieces like 'Mitterand's Last Supper', 'A Season in Sarajevo' and
'Lahore'. There are some fine, unexpected nature poems, which pinpoint
the tension in his poetry between a sensual rapture and a knowing
cynicism. The Flying Trapeze is an excellent new collection, never
less than subtle, smart and true.
