Scott Elder Breaking Away July 2015. 36 pp. ISBN-13 978-3-901993-52-7 (= PSPS 15) £5.50 (+ 1.00 p&p), €5.50 (+ 1.00 p&p), US$ 8.00 (+ 1.50 p&p)   "When Scott Elder (whom I have never met) several years ago, having read some of my work, sent me some of his poemsto look at, I was captured by their originality and beauty. Here, I thought, is a true poet and so I wrote back encouraginghim. Scott's poems continue to enchant me with their lyricism, with the fluidity of the language, with their exploration oflove, loss, grief, their sadness redeemed by their beauty. These are haunting poems, tending toward the surreal, toward mythor fairytale (a mysterious lady, Humpty Dumpty, Penelope) but grounded in images of the universe: oaks, sunsets, rivers,a swallow, many moons. I am excited that these poems are finding a home in the literary world." Patricia Fargnoli "Scott Elder's poems are like impressionist paintings - or subtle sketches in which the subject is glimpsed and thencoyly hides, is glimpsed again running through linden trees before ducking out of view once more. These poems are full ofmystery and tenderness, with a deftness of touch that takes us from Homer's Penelope to the Isle of Skye, via Humpty Dumptya .340 Magnum, scarecrows and an enigmatic Finnish woman. They conjure a mood which is tentative and meditative, leadingthe reader to a place where, in the words of one of his characters, we stand 'at the door, a stranger, // divining thefall, the throw of bones, / coming to know what you knew, // until dusk, too, had inevitably gone.' This is a fragile,beautiful collection which gets better with each reading." Sharon Black

Order copies of Breaking Away via PayPal:

Table of Contents

Excerpts from Breaking Away

Breaking Away

I
A twist of the wrist and she's gone.
Wind hissing through a dozen halyards
confirms that somebody's gone.
Who dare defy desire trickling in her veins,
denying all but her lover's glance?

II
Dawn parts sky and water,
defines a line between two lips touching.
If you come a little closer the line is curving.
It runs through the thrill and the fear
of placing her foot on the bank.

III
The bank is endless.

IV
A gull floats off in the broken half-light.
Then another, and still another.
The lady's waded to shore.
She shivers and sighs.
The wind picks through her clothes and hair,
whispers in gusts, C'est par là ... par là.

V
The bank is endless,
an empty cradle, the devil's spindle,
a dance together on the ocean's edge,
neck to neck, break-neck and body,
heart and spade, one last dance,
a board that's played.

Portrait in Winter

I wanted him to be ancient, a silhouette in winter,
a cornfield under snow, a scarecrow.

I wanted to unsew his crooked smile,
to rub away the jagged edges. My fingers

stuck in the pigment. Barbwire and thistle
caught in my clothes. His element

was the wind. His eyes were wind-worn
from looking, looking.

The pupils had faded away.
How to bring him together,

me in his shadow listening to the wind,
to him, to his cuffs and sleeves ... dancing.

Reviews of Breaking Away

"The qualities that most appeal to me in these poems by Scott Elder are their elusiveness and ambiguity, a moodof absence, an impression that what is not said is as important as the actual. [...] The poems in this pamphlet arelyrical and mysterious. [...] Throughout, there are references to myths, folk songs, fairy tales, a wealth of symbolismand intriguing surreal touches [...]. Scott Elder’s publication [...] is rich in subtle, evocative poems.It is the forerunner, I am sure, of a great deal more."

Read more about Scott Elder

Send an e-mail to order this book