Reviews

Lubrication

Douglas W. Gray, Catriona Yule and Haworth Hodgkinson

Sunday 3 May 2009

Pennan Village Hall [Map]

Part of the North Coast Weekend
Part of New Words / New Sounds

I was last in Pennan Hall two years ago. The following day part of the cliffs that loom over Pennan fell on top of the Hall. I thought of that this Sunday when I was back in Pennan. However I am happy to report that I was successfully distracted from thoughts of imminent death. Doug's new book Lubrication, a collection of poems of unflinching emotional depth written between 1995 and 2006, provided the core around which these three poets gave a splendid performance woven through with Haworth's incomparable music — drum, gongs, woodwinds — Doug's gritty realism and Catriona's quietly sharp observations of life. Occasionally they presented a poem together and this gave an extra dimension which worked well for the listener and for the poetry. There was never a dull moment. Our hearts and minds were stirred and even the cliff caught its breath and was still. That was fine by me.

Maureen Ross