A Dart of Green and Blue by Elizabeth Barrett
'A Dart of Green and Blue' explores the impact of loss on the human spirit; we witness the death of a mother and of a child, the loss of a lover and the erosion of self. A variety of birds inhabit the poems, carrying moments of joy and healing as well as grief. In one sequence, a girl is eclipsed by the shadow of a gull's wing; in another she turns pelican, bleeding from self-inflicted wounds. But there are visionary moments and transformations too. In one sequence, Barrett imagines her dying mother transformed into a kingfisher: " - I waited. Watched. It only took one hour before a dart of brilliant green and blue flashed past me (heading somewhere) and was gone." There is resilience and some redemption in this collection. At the end of a sequence of poems charting the loss of a lover, a blackbird is still singing softly. And, in the collection's closing poem, a finch flies into the human 'labyrinth of tissue and bone' where it sings of a 'horizon sparkling with phosphorescence'.
Born in Sheffield in 1961, Elizabeth Barrett has a first degree and PhD in History and Politics from the University of London and was a scholarship student at the University of Massachusetts in the 1980s. She later trained as an English teacher, subsequently working in education research and as a university lecturer. She has received several awards for her poetry including an Arts Council of England Writer's Award in 2000. She has worked as a writer-in-residence in schools, a prison and on local radio, and as a creative writing tutor and poetry editor. 'A Dart of Green and Blue' is her fourth book. She has two children and lives in Sheffield where she is Principal Lecturer in Education at Hallam University.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781906570651 |
| ISBN 10 | 1906570655 |
| Title | A Dart of Green and Blue |
| Author | Elizabeth Barrett |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Arc Publications |
| Year published | 2010-10-28 |
| Number of pages | 64 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |