Review by Alan Cleaver
IT must take a certain level of cruelty to send someone in lockdown a book of poems about walking in the open countryside.
But Passing Place by poet Martyn Halsall did at least conjure up those wild parts of Britain I was missing and offered me some solace during those difficult days spent imprisoned in my home.
Halsall, who lives in west Cumbria and was formerly poet in residence at Carlisle Cathedral, is our guide through some of the sacred places to be found in Britain - those 'thin places' where the boundary between the physical world and the spiritual one becomes blurred.
It's not the first time Halsall has found inspiration on his pilgrimages but this collection of around 20 poems seems to offer new depth and insight.
And once again it is his eye for detail which helps us to see in even the most barren landscapes something of beauty or history which can enlighten or inspire us. Halsall can find poetry and meaning even in a discarded piece of blue twine and while holding it up for us to see can pan out to introduce us to the characters and the landscape beyond.
The curious typography of a tombstone, a memorial plaque or copperplate handwriting on old documents all provide a way in to a richer world which will send the reader off to Google (and hopefully post-lockdown to the landscape itself) to discover more. Like the scared places he writes about, it's a world where the spirits of the past wander freely with the living so expect to meet Saints and as easily as you might meet the residents of the Isle of Lewis.
Halsall has been a man of words all his life so it's not surprising to discover he can paint the landscape with just a few strokes of his keyboard - a scrap of land is "an afterthought of Pennines" and there are part-time islands to navigate.
He makes it look easy but I suspect it took more than just dipping a nib to come up with these charming delights.
They are poems you can read once and enjoy but read them a second or third time and you'll start to learn more about these passing places and the stories they have to tell. You'll be grateful for your guide showing you that this is a world full of beauty even during its darkest days.
- Alan Cleaver
Passing Place is available at £5 (inc p&p) from martynhalsall22@gmail.com.
