By turns lyrical and sardonic, this new collection from Katie Donovan is characteristically watery - candid and uncompromising in its refusal to inhabit the safer reaches of the shore. Themes of loss, widowhood and ageing co-exist with observations of her wild garden and its inhabitants, including a mangey fox she helps to survive.
Small acts of salvage are often all that is possible, such as the permission given during the Covid-19 pandemic to go 2km from home. This allowed Donovan to swim at White Rock, her local beach, thus staying afloat through the fear of that brutal time and what came next - the death of her mother. In some of these new poems the comforting delusion of rescue is highlighted as a flawed but human necessity. Other poems give voice to the remorse that is the haunting of a failed rescue.
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I pass, scarcely noticing the raft;a leaf, floating in the full bucket beneaththe water butt.
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(@BloodaxeBooks, 23 May 2024, e-galley, 96 pages, #ARC from the Publisher via @edelweiss_squad)
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This is a new poet for me. I really enjoyed May Swim. A lot of the poems have a nature theme and I usually enjoy these kinds of poems. However, they're so well-written and full of engaging imagery and ideas that I found myself enjoying theme in spite of the subject matter and themes. Many of the themes can be said to be universal but written with a personal slant unique to the poet. Some of the themes I've read many times before while others were fresh. I especially liked Lost Song, Murder, Undertow, Salad Days and Recess. I'd recommend May Swim
