Julia Casterton was very active in the poetry world, particularly in London – she worked for Ambit, she taught creative writing, she wrote books on writing poetry, she went to readings and events, and her poems appeared in many magazines. I was astonished to discover that, although there\u2019d been pamphlets, she\u2019d not had a full collection published. The Doves of Finisterre won the Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize and her reading at the next year\u2019s festival was a triumph. This book is now out of print.<\/p>\n
Julia died in 2007 after a markedly long and courageous battle with ill health. Her friends Martina Evans and Judy Gahagan have made a book, Night Lightning, out of the poems that Julia was working on at the time of her death and a selection of earlier poems, many of them rescued from old issues of magazines. In the Forward Martin Bax and Judy write of the \u201cfreedom and risk\u201d in the new poems and Night Lightning is a book to learn from – for a writer from the sheer confidence of her technique, for a human being from Julia\u2019s expertise on life. Although there\u2019s a lot about love and loss in this book, subjects that she knew well, it is above all else a celebration.<\/p>\n
\u2018How will we live in our bird-selves, our flower-selves?
\nQuickly, easily, every mistake the next becoming.\u2019<\/p>\n
The Day Hides<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s true that when the day comes out in her full glory Something hurts inside. I want to respond When I watched the moon set I paled, up in my high kitchen. a day like this one coming? behind long flowing clouds, and stepped out bravely into her \u2018Casterton stands on the precipice, looking boldly out into various unknowns. Her poems demand close re-reading.\u2019 \u2018It is rare to find poetry of such spiritual commitment and intensity.\u2019 <\/p>\n (The Rialto 2007) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" …Night Lightning is a book to learn from – for a writer from the sheer confidence of her technique, for a human being from Julia\u2019s expertise on life. Although there\u2019s a lot about love and loss in this book, subjects that she knew well, it is above all else a celebration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4213,"template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[170],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1887","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-books","7":"product_shipping_class-books","9":"first","10":"outofstock","11":"shipping-taxable","12":"purchasable","13":"product-type-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therialto.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/1887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therialto.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therialto.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therialto.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therialto.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therialto.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=1887"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therialto.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=1887"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therialto.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=1887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nshe\u2019s too much for me.<\/p>\n
\nto all that fiery kindness, and I can\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\nearly this morning, red-gold and full of herself,<\/p>\n
\nHow could I compete, or even be there alongside<\/p>\n
\nSo when she hid herself a little<\/p>\n
\nI thought Now I Can Cope<\/p>\n
\nto buy bread.<\/p>\n
\nKate Keogan, The North<\/p>\n
\nJudy Gahagan, Ambit<\/p>\n
\nISBN 978-0-9551273-1-1<\/p>\n