“Iron Harvest”

By Mick Jenkinson

Cyberwit.net

Copyright 2024

Review by LB Sedlacek

In the first full collection of poems by Jenkinson, his musical collaborator Dr. Ian Parks introduces this new work by stating that the poems are “both a comment on the physical struggle to bring things to the surface but also to the sense of the poems themselves being part of that process.” He also says “Jenkinson’s deep affinity with the

land and the people who live there is the continuum that threads these poems together, taking love poems, poems of protest and cultural change, and poems from both autobiographical and collective memory, and arranging them into a sequence which ives them added strength and resonance.”

Jenkinson opens his new book with the poem “This River.” It is a strong conscientious poem that sets the stage for the voice that inhabits these poems.

His poems consist of enriched and guided language in a poetical form. The thoughts behind them are relevant and will envelope the reader. 

Jenkinson’s poems offer a wide variety of subjects including kindling, the land, and light houses and love. Some of the poems are written in somewhat of a traditional form while others lean more towards free verse or have less of a formality about them. He also includes some rhyming in some of his poems.

There is strong voice throughout the book. His poems allow room for thought from readers as well as an easy and understandable conveyance of what he is trying to get across in each poem.

From the poem “Beyond the Espaliered Pear Tree”:

“It was all mine.

In spring, it became a barrier

impenetrable to the eye of the house,

but beyond the pear tree

the air-raid shelter beckoned –

its black mouth,

uneasy smells,

indescribable puddles,

and fears that had to be faced.”

Jenkinson writes balanced verse with much consideration and thought to the overall outcome. His poems set the landscape figuratively and literally giving the reader pause to feel, to live inside the verses. It takes a talented poet to shape their overall poem in such a way as to give it almost a living presence. 

From the poem “Blue to Black”:

“I watch a cloud, like ice cream, melt;

horizon turns from blue to black.

Captain says fasten your safety belt.”

Jenkinson’s poems are sharp and sincere. They conjure memories while expertly turning words into dreams or adventures or thoughts or even perhaps real-life experiences. He has assembled a book of poems that beckons to the reader.

~LB Sedlacek is the author of several books of poetry including “Unresponsive Sky,” “Poem Medicine,” “The Poet Next Door,” “Simultaneous Submissions,”  and “This Space Available.”  Her short stories books include “The Jackalope Committee & Other Stories” and “The Renovator & Motor Addiction.” Her poem novel is “The Blue Eyed Side.”