A Picture With The Paint Still Wet
by Alan Horner
ISBN 0-9551907-0-3

Alan Horner’s poems, with their often quirky originality, have graced the pages of several journals many years.  Now, more than 150 of them have been collected to form this handsome and stimulating volume.  It will be welcomed by many people, and should be welcomed by many more.

The first poem in the book sets the tone. It is called ' We have said yes' and suggests a journey of discovery, a journey

… as we discern
to what, to whom,
we have said yes

But this is not a book of devotional poems. We have poems about birds and animals, about ordinary places and ordinary people; we accompany the author up mountains and contemplate with him 'the magic and the mystery' of the waterfall. There are poignant moments too; the scattering of the ashes of a friend `set free by death’ or the realization, in a poem subtitled `September 11th’, that the faiths, falsehoods and fears of others are a mirror of our own.

There are indeed, however, some delightful and profound reworkings of biblical stories. Take, for instance, 'Conversion', based on the parable of the prodigal son. Here it is the elder son, not the prodigal, who is converted, who realizes that he has almost missed the opportunity his inheritance gives him to help those `like my brother who have no-one to give to them'. It is perhaps a parable for our times.

The title poem of the book, 'A picture with the paint still wet', affirms the dynamic nature of belief. It takes all those stories and pictures and says, `This is not prose, but poetry with its own power to reach the heart, which static pictures lack.' This is a book to cherish and go back to again and again.

John Hucknall
Leicester

Available from:
Margaret Horner, 26 Verdon Drive, Willen Park, Milton Keynes MK15 9DF
£9.95 incl p&p.