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• Jason Holt

  Malcolm Garrett has embarked upon a deeply personal journey in his anthology, not only providing readers with deep reflections on life and its relative transience and fleeting nature but also providing us with a light at the end of the tunnel by accentuating the positives and moving on to other components of life’s journey to consider and celebrate. In the first section, “Wrestling with Loss”, grieving is not a destination but rather a journey where there are no rules, there are no guidelines and there are no prescribed timeframes. The poet presents differing perspectives in relation to grief with a focus on deep connections both by way of kinship and friendship. Each poem, albeit derived from differing circumstance, is none-the-less poignantly relevant to the reader on his or her life journey - and catharsis is achieved through this epiphany: we grieve deeply when we have loved deeply. Having wrestled with loss, the author reflects on the positives in life, in this case focusing on family relationships, particularly the joy of having grand-children, through whom the cycle of life goes on as surely as time goes by. We share the author’s delight in “little legs” and the joy of “falling into step” with family and friends. In the final section, the political landscape provides a platform for the author to endeavour to analyse and comment on what is happening in world events. It is an understandable characteristic of human nature to attempt to understand and philosophize and it is a trait that links back to the original motivation of the author in exploring grief. The poet’s anthology is not intended to provide all the answers to life’s exigencies but it does provide us with insights to take up as relevant and to motivate us on our own journey.

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