Allan Stephenson

Amber Bordering Celestial Disaster Allan Stephenson

These are poems from a dry country, and the author's climatic concerns have found their way into his emotional landscape. He is a traveller in an ancient land who contrasts lush, well-watered gardens and valleys full of growing grain with wind-scoured deserts and parched horizons. Music flows through the heart of these poems - the still, sad music of humanity - and the unalterable verdicts of time, the seasons and disillusionment. There's a hint too of Gothic fantasy, and the epigrammatic quality of Chinese poetry. Above all, there is affection and love and the silken touch of lovers, remembered and living still.