A Poet’s Notebook

with new poems, obviously

by Stewart Henderson

Lion Hudson Ltd

Lion Books

Poetry

Pub Date 22 Jun 2018

I am reviewing a copy of A Poet’s Notebook through Lion Books and Netgalley:

This collection includes 21 poems which are preceded by a commentary on Stewart Henderson’s poetry including sources and development of his poetry.

Stewart Henderson is a Liverpool born best selling poet, broadcaster as well as a songwriter.

This book is a unique combination of poetry journal, travelogue as well cultural almanac complete with Stewart Henderson’s trademark humor as well as important observations.

I give A Poet’s Notebook five out of five stars!

Happy Reading

Thank you to Stewart Henderson, Lion Hudson Ltd, and Netgalley for allowing me the extreme pleasure of access to an advanced reader copy of “A Poet's Notebook: …with new poems, obviously…” for an honest review.

I have to admit the first thing that made me curious about this book was it being poetry, and then even more needlingly curious about it was the glib “obviously” in the title. Relating it earlier works by reference, or to other works who have come long before.

While there were 21 poems in this book, the book was far more reference and explanation than it was poetry. I felt like the explanations, while they helped us get inside the head of the poet, left me feeling more connected to the poet’s inner meaning of the poem and even less connected to the poem. It ended up tarnishing my more visceral and personal reactions and connections with the words, and message, being conveyed.

I very much enjoyed the poetry in this collection. In fact, I would even consider reading more from Henderson in the future, but I cannot honestly say that I liked the notes that came before each poem. When I started reading, I made an effort to read through Henderson’s description of how the poems came about. I prefer reading a poem and developing my own interpretation of it, and the parts before were too long and not of genuine interest to me. Consequently, I eventually started skipping over much of the extra writing to read the poems, which as I mentioned, were fantastic.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that the majority of the collection was not poetry, and therefore was not what I enjoyed reading, I cannot rate this highly.

My Favorite Poems in the Collection:
• Eyes Down
• Under the Clock
• This Is How It Is
• Even When Wounded
• Somewhere in the Library
• Everything in Heaven Falls Apart
• Thunder and Rainbows
• Consideration
• I Wish You...

I somehow couldn't connect to these poems. Although the chapters around the poems providing context were interesting, I did feel like they took me out of the mood of the poems. Rather than going into them open minded, I found myself analyzing them off the bat, thereby forgetting to enjoy them. Although there are some great lines in 'A Poet's Notebook' I found myself unable to finish it.

This didn't work for me. I didn't really like the poetry, so the in-depth dives into what went into creating them ended up feeling self-indulgent rather than something I cared to read as a creative.