From the outset, I should declare that I am great admirer of Helen Laycock’s words and already hold several of her themed collections. This particular gathering focuses on love.
Helen is perhaps best known for poetry that is wildly and inventively imagistic, but also works that can carry the jolt of unexpected twists.

This collection is a little different, although still very much written in Helen’s unique style. With some exceptions, the agonies of thwarted, ended, or unrequited love are avoided here in favour of a deep exploration of the ecstasy that this condition entails.

Helen does not disappoint. Page after page reveals delightfully and entirely unexpected poetic blooms!

I was snagged into purchasing this collection by ‘Unwritten Poem’. Daytime asleep, a strewn lover is silently observed by her partner. A justifiable voyeurism of sorts.
She is naked, “…he trailed her skin in fingertip ink and she dreamed of love as he read from above.”

Some of these poems are just perfectly crafted single sentences. What more can possibly be added to ‘Silverfeet’?
“He split the billowing net of stars that she might paddle in light.”

The imagery here is primarily natural, often of open skies or untrammelled seas or shared barefoot beaches; prosaic and grinding ordinary life being rightly pushed to one side.

In ‘Moontide’ a dusk walk concludes; “we waltzed the sand, palm to palm, a parenthesis in crooked arms, that only we could unlock.” The shared shell of early love exquisitely explained!

Perhaps my own personal favourite is ‘Reflection’. It opens with the question; “How can you melt in the rain, he thought…” as he watches his lover disappear into drizzle. He is rooted in the moment.
“…his shoes anchoring him to his other half self, lost in a puddle of sky, unable to call back the day.”

The intensity of rapture so flawlessly caught.

A rare, sadder read comes from ‘Missing Notes’. “The skies used to be full of birds, now they are ash-white, milk-still, unmarked by the charred confetti of kindled love…”

However, this is a truly beautiful collection which will undoubtedly lift spirits and once again generate great accolades for the author.

Do be warned though. It is intended for a very niche market. Only buy if you have ever been in love, are in love or are seeking love.

By any reckoning, yet another phenomenal achievement from the Pushcart nominated poet!