Available from Cultured Llama Publishing http://www.culturedllama.co.uk/books/hearth
Hearth is a treasure trove of poems, in which Rose Cook maps the spirit, exploring how the ordinary and everyday is full of magic and love. She writes, ‘We must protect the under-dream of existence/catch life waiting for us.’ She portrays her mother through her daily tasks, offering us life’s fragilities in her son’s fall, in grief and in the process of ageing while also celebrating ‘how close to breaking we must live’. These poems also contain the ancient magic and wisdom of trees, of creatures and constellations as well as lots and lots of love. In her voice as clear as spring water, we catch ‘the hum of soul / its weight the heart of a lark.’
Rebecca Gethin, author of All the Time in the World
These are numinous poems which register human fragility, yet their awareness of ‘how close to breaking we must live’ serves to strengthen their grateful celebration of life, with its moments of human tenderness and natural beauty. Deeply felt portraits of the landscape – owls, hares, egrets, rain, sea, cherry trees – along with simple acts like folding sheets, or a daughter’s visit, drop us into ‘a marvellous time’, an ‘under-dream of existence’ and become vehicles for light and awakening. Rose Cook’s ‘glimpse through’ the world makes Hearth a sensitive, haunting collection, and reminds us of our soul’s priorities.
Rosie Jackson, author of The Light Box
Rose Cook’s poetry is a secret dance, a graceful flight as her words lift from the page, light and tender and yet powerful enough to change the way we see the world. Her performances are spellbinding, intimate conversations, private transactions as if reaching right into the soul of the audience.
Robert Garnham, author of Nice
Rose Cook 