Much of what I know about love I learnt from trees
Rose Lennard
ISBN 9781068488361
 
Much of what I know about love I learnt from trees is a vivid and careful unearthing of personal inheritance and family relationships, shot through with the beauty and persistence of the natural world.
(Kate Potts)

Rose Lennard tells us that, despite the title, this book is not about trees. However, the trees are there, along with other natural beings, as a steady, consoling presence through these poems as they negotiate complex and sometimes fractious memories. The poems examine difficult familial relationships and loss, but there is also love, adventure, and contentment so that the reader, like the speaker, is ‘left holding this duality, like some cat that may or may not be dead in a box’ (‘Depths’). I appreciate the careful use of form and space for every poem and enjoyed the precise, fresh, imagery as well as the deft touch with metaphor. Recommended.
(Angela France)

This is a courageous and deeply moving collection. Beginning in the enchanted landscapes of childhood – frog ponds, birds, trees and the small rituals of family life – the poems gradually unfold a far more complex story of love, grief, loyalty and betrayal. 
Rose writes with clarity, emotional intelligence and an unflinching honesty about the tangled bonds between parents and children. Yet what lingers most is not the pain but the compassion: again and again these poems search for understanding, forgiveness and a wider sky in which the heart might heal. A powerful, humane and beautifully crafted book.
(Stephen Chappell)