And… it’s a bouquet!
When you release your creative work into the world and literary critics have a chance to assess it, their critical responses can never be predicted. Subjective and objective factors together guide the process and bouquets, brickbats and everything in between are all possible. That is as it must and should be. So long as it is fair minded and constructive, criticism can be very valuable to a writer who is committed to improving his/her/their craft.
Still… I cannot pretend that it is not a tremulous moment — one charged with hopeful anticipation and not a little worry — every time I sit down to read a review of my published work. Especially the first review. It takes me back to the days when I served as a judge and a decision from a higher court to which one of my own decisions had been appealed was to be handed down.
The critic assigned by the prestigious UK literary journal, The High Window, to review The World You Now Own was Colin Carberry — a much-respected poet and translator, born in Canada, raised in Ireland and now living in Mexico. Mr Carberry has several celebrated collections to his credit, so he certainly came to the task of reviewing my work fully credentialled.
It was humbling for me to read Colin Carberry’s generous and positive assessment of the poems and novella in verse that comprise The World You Now Own. Among other things, he described the collection as containing:
“…profound, skilfully crafted, engaging & cathartic poems that deal with sometimes dark historical & political subject material…leaven[ed] with tender love poems & gentle sardonic humour.”
The review flowed from what was plainly a deep and insightful reading of my poems and novella. I greatly appreciate the close attention that was paid to details and subtleties by Mr. Carberry in his articulate review. His qualitative judgments have left me feeling encouraged and ready to turn my hand to my latest projects with plenty of humility but also a measure of added confidence. And if brickbats from other critics there must eventually be, I feel a little more ready for them — and, I hope, a little better able to push vanity to one side and search for the learning points they may contain.
To read Colin Carberry’s thoughtful review of The World You Now Own, click here.
