Made of Glass

Carol Sheppard's debut collection glitters with reflections on life, love and longing, but Nature is the ever-present backdrop in these imagistic poems. From the initial poem, 'Who am I?' we see how the poet has been formed by her natural environment: 'I am the squall of sparrows in the hedgerows... I am the countryside...' Carol's ability to place us is masterly and her voice clear as she leads us into each poem with confidence. Birds swoop and fly throughout this collection; the sea is a recurrent theme as are fields and the wind. In the poem 'Mistle Thrush' she uses myth to perfection; 'They say we are the harbingers of the storm.' In other poems, her strong narrative style hints at Carol's additional talent, playwriting; her characterisation is strong and the tenderness with which she portrays her loved ones, heartwarming. The reader is captured, drawn through this collection, delighted at each turn of subject and yet over all is the feeling that life and reality are fragile; as though Made of Glass.