Catch 41 is not Basho’s old frog pond nor is it Crapsey’s cinquains or Robert Kelly’s lunes. No, this is something entirely new with a twist of the familiar. This is not the stripped back, neutral English of most haiku either; Colin’s voice comes through loud and clear. For a keen haiku poet such as myself, reading Catch 41 was a shock to the system, but of the best kind. Is this a fairly dramatic, possible reworking of the form, the ghost of haiku future maybe? Or are we seeing a new poetic form entirely? This work moves from the sublime to the grounded and funny, from wild life to the love life smoothly and with great finesse. The writing is engaging and playful. This work is one you will treasure, go back to time and again and it may possibly inspire other writers to explore this emergent form.
Indie publisher specialising in short-verse poetry