Go Creaturely
Patricia Leighton
ISBN 9781916919389
 
Reviews of Go Creaturely

Patricia Leighton’s collection encompasses animals wild and tame, real and imaginary. Her poems are full of sympathy and closely observed detail. Her skilful use of varied poetic forms sustains interest throughout. She celebrates the creatures with whom we share our planet but is acutely aware of the threats they face. She is a pastoral poet for our time.
(Mary Robinson)
 
From swifts migrating to Africa, to the she-wolf that speaks on a Tiber bank of starving abandoned pups, these poems are a mosaic of creaturely encounters that reflect what it is to be human. 
Among wolves dreaming, salmon spawning, a mite on the wing of a buzzard, that feels ‘the swoop of raw murder’, the reader is encouraged to observe the natural world in intense detail. A peacock butterfly, for example, is a microcosm of human love. Through it, Patricia Leighton introduces the art of stillness: ‘the stillness of looking, really looking’. And here is the essence of this collection. 
Vivid imagery, elegant language, musical echoes create Go Creaturely, by a poet who knows how to watch. A poet who bears witness to all beings.
(Margaret Adkins)