The Chiricahuas by David Chorlton

I was delighted to receive along with his latest submission to Bolts of Silk, a copy of David Chorlton's chapbook The Chiricahuas.

This is real poetry of place, taking us vividly to the Chiricahuas mountains, to be amongst the wildlife and people of the area. It's an area that has seen a lot of human influence including abandoned homes and mines:

when the miners drilled 

into the mountain until it hurt 
and came back to a light 
too bright for them to see

the sparrows bouncing in the grass.

from Mine Trail

It's a country where an abandoned backpack may be reclaimed by nature:

a few strands will line
an oriole's nest in spring. 

from The Pack

There's humour too in these poems of the human relationship with nature. I couldn't help but smile at the image of the Texan lady 'with bouffant hair / and high-priced binoculars' who was disappointed not to see something rarer than an acorn woodpecker for her 'long awaited // breathlessly anticipated / five hundredth life / bird.'

These poems are wonderful descriptive, Turkey Vultures in a Storm, for example, is a vivid evocation of the power of the weather, while The Year After contains the beautiful phrase:

the song of one warbler
is wrapped for safekeeping 
in the silence it left behind. 

These poems prove that focussing on one small geographical area can be tremendously inspiring and result in varied poetry.

Several of David Chorlton's poems (including some from The Chiricahuas) have appeared on Bolts of Silk, you can read them here.

The Chiricahuas by David Chorlton, published by Seven CirclePress.You can read the free download here.

As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other pages where you can find out more.