Visiting the Minotaur

This book was received with many differing views. Some felt that it was a strangely uneven collection of poems – some were simply and, in places, powerfully described (such as the one referring to the mother and brother suicides; bereavement is a recurring theme) and others largely unintelligible. There are some gruesome depictions of childbirth: ‘Vernix Caseosa’, ‘No Man’s Land’. The “minotaur” aspect was lost on some completely and brought little to the book in general. In trying to understand the connection, mazes and labyrinths were called up but offered no real explanation. Is she the minotaur, trying to navigate the labyrinth of her life/emotions? Some poems are clever but oddly unmoving. ‘Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide’ is probably the most powerful; she has an optimism about family life. Often, titles given to collections such as this suggest an overarching theme which is then not borne out by the collection, but presumably to call them Collection 1 and Collection 2, etc would not do!

Overall, it was considered that the poems were well written but not popular with this group.