All Island, No Sea

I first encountered Chris Campbell's poetry by reading White Eye Of The Needle last year. I felt an affinity with the poems in that collection so was thrilled to be invited to review his new collection, All Island, No Sea, as well. All Island, No Sea includes forty-one poems which cover a variety of themes, some of which spoke strongly to me straight away while others took longer to interpret. I felt this work was more abstract overall. My favourite poems included the nostalgic 'I Want The Past In A Cereal Bowl' and 'Starfish' which was particularly evocative of my childhood beach holidays. Campbell has a talent for spotting the significance in brief moments, capturing them with a light touch that appealed to me. It's interesting to connect and share experiences through poems like these which celebrate small moments as well as life changing events.