WORDS ON A CRUMPLED PAGE" - as reviewed by Rose Frankcombe

Margaret Muir has recently published a poetry book, Words on a Crumpled Page, an evocative title reflecting the history of the poetic inclusions.
Having a number of novels currently on the market, in the historical fiction and nautical fiction genres, Margaret has for the moment diversified and diverted from her usual writing path. Those accumulations of jottings, poems reflecting various aspects of her life over a number of years that have lain unloved and crumpled for too long, have now come to light in this new work.
How often do we have those brilliant flashes of insight at awkward moments or deep in the night when we can’t record them? Come the next day, the illumination of the previous 24 hours has vanished, never to return – unless – unless something has been scribbled down. The jottings on the cover are the actual folded or crumpled pages Margaret wrote her original poems on.
For Chapter 1 (of 10) of Words on a Crumpled Page, Margaret has chosen the title Twisted Trivia and begins with Today, a poem beginning benignly enough:
"Fronds of frost edged the cape-weed
like lace around a doily… She dried her cup…" - we had no idea what was next to unfold.
I’m sure our reaction at that reading would be a common one as the surprise end to the poem reveals itself. Once the essence of it has been absorbed, deep thought as to the whys of the act compel the reader to think quite deeply as to the agony of the protagonist.
For those who have met her, Margaret’s soft Yorkshire accent can be heard in the lines of her poems. Not a talkative woman, The Listener (Words falling on deaf ears), may in reality have been quite a trial for her:
"You never stop talking.
All day long
talk, talk, talk…"
For poets, anything’s fair game, even in this instance where the names of big rigs, the trucks plying the highways and byways of Australia were used. Go Bitch Wheels…
A lover of nature and all its bounty, there are chapters (not in order here) on earth, sea, sky, seasons. Poetry as art, haiku, joie de vivre, human emotion, and the human condition. An eclectic mix.
For those with an affinity for the sea, Sunset at Sea conjures the presence of the ocean in a benign mood, "… Dark sea murmurs as it rolls over…" but reading more into the words one finds there have been times when the sea has risen in response to Poseidon’s demand, his anger unrivalled in his quest for hapless sacrifices for the deep "…shielding the souls of sailors commended long ago…"
As indicated, this is an esoteric gathering of themes old and new. On contemporary energy collecting windmills:
"…Precocious teasers hail the virgin breeze
Catching the wind and tossing him about…"
The final poem in the collection is a very personal and a very moving one that must have been very hard not so much to write but to include.
There is something for everyone in this around 60-page poetry book. The various themes cover a broad spectrum of life, living and nature.
With this book launched, I would hope that in future another poetry book or two eventuates from Margaret’s pen, singularly following one theme, so the reader can completely immerse themselves into it, be it thematic of the sea, nature in general, love, contemporary life…
Inspiration for poems is all around us. All we need to be is observant - and jot the ideas down, just as Margaret had done…
WORDS ON A CRUMPLED PAGE is available from www.LULU.com in print for $6.80