Gloom Cupboard

Immediate, honest and to the point … it is hard to review a book or writer that reminds you of    your own writing style but the poems of Jim Murdoch succeeded beautifully in convincing me. ‘This is not about what you think’ is actually not about what you think, as each reader constructs an own interpretation of the poems. Just the same for the very appropriate book cover! Seemingly a Rorschach-test the image is open to many interpretations, as the poem ‘Making Sense’ clearly underlines.

Immediate, honest and to the point … but so beautiful and pure in the messages and living truths the author passes to the reader. The delight of reading returns when opening this book, savoring writing that takes you to a higher place of mesmerizing, recalling and interpreting. Very few writers succeed in doing this in a short but rhythmical style. Not a word too much, not a word less that necessary, Jim’s credo being, as stated in the book’s introduction: ‘Say what you have to say and get off the page.’. Congratulations Jim, I can do nothing but recommend your work highly … I adored it! And there is more! 

Making Sense

What do you see in the inkblot?
Just sadness.
But sadness has no shape.
Yes it does. It has that shape.
Can’t you see the butterfly?
Perhaps, but it’s a very sad butterfly;
I can tell these things.

The entire first section of the book is available for preview online here:

http://www.jimmurdoch.co.uk/think_excerpt.html

and here is the link to the FV Books site:

http://www.fvbooks.com/jmurdoch/jmurdoch4.htm

where early purchasers will get a free copy of the literary magazine Bonfire while stocks last.