Death

<p>In his refreshing clean lines Goodwin combines humour and close observation with hope for a future that inevitably involves departure from this life on earth.</p><p><br></p><p>- Sevak Edward Gulbekian author of <em>In the Belly of the Beast</em></p><p><br></p><p>Manning Goodwin's poems are insightful meditations about the dilemmas of modern daily life with a deeply felt spiritual foundation. They address philosophically with honesty and wit the dichotomy of inner turbulence and a contented quotidian surface.</p><p><br></p><p>- Nomi Rowe author of <em>In Celebration of Cecil Collins: Visionary Artist and Educator</em></p><p><br></p><p>Goodwin's collection reads like a memoir on mortality taking us inside a liminal space where vignettes of everyday life - reading having the boiler fixed - jostle with Cicero and salmon poisoned figs goldmines Afghan ponies and Chinese seas.</p><p>From the opening line 'Memories of missing people' Manning's writing feels as urgent as it is oneiric; death like the 'chaps in caps' is never far from the poet's thoughts as he gently oscillates between acceptance humour and thoughts of the beyond imbued at times with a poignant fatalism ('They took away my flame yet let me live').</p><p>In one poem he writes of making a mistake when planning his tombstone ('a five instead of twenty-five thus lopping off a score of years') while his study of the belladonna plant weaves ancient tales into the plight of modern hearts. The poems flow around gentle structures; strong iambic rhythms are particularly effective in 'Sockeye Salmon' ('We jump the falls that thunder down /We feed both bear and man surviving'). A dialogue with death in which every word feels warmly and purposefully alive.</p><p><br></p><p>- Holly Dawson Writer & Editor</p>