Catching the Heather

Catching the Heather is a small collection of Penny Sharman's poems and photographic images. They are very much inspired by the pandemic, but also the love and loss of close relatives and friends. You will find metaphors and imagery from wild landscapes, flora and fauna; and echoes to remind us all of the effect we are having on our ecosystems and of the global urgency to protect the Earth.

"Penny Sharman's intriguing lines question our resistance to the power of the imagination. Her latest collection, Catching the Heather, combines photography and poetry. The puzzling pictures of stone figures, masks and shadows defy stereotypes. The images evoke a sense of longing for a world that is mysterious and beautiful at the same time. They are allegorical, perhaps lost and can only be recreated in art. A 'parasol of hope' protects these poems from extinction. They reveal the strengths and vulnerabilities of being human, when 'comfort blankets' are too small and birds and butterflies are trapped in an unfathomable world. Despite this, life overcomes the night of the soul in a natural environment that allows space for the artist's creation and expands her work from the ordinary to the universal." (Carla Scarano D'Antonio - http://www.carlascaranod.co.uk/)

"Penny Sharman's poems are powered from the close observation of an attentive poet whose imagination opens up to visceral dreamscapes that stop you in your tracks." (Fiona Bennett - Poetry Exchange)

Published by Cerasus Poetry - http://cerasuspoetry.com