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
The Doves of Finisterre<\/strong><\/p>\n All day they\u2019ve been rising and falling in front of the window, Dove-decisions. Whether to be on watch Then they\u2019re up, a whole puther of them, \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 (The Rialto First Collection Series 2003) SOLD OUT<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The Doves of Finisterre won the Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize and her reading at the next year\u2019s festival was a triumph.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":807,"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-1903","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\/1903","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\/807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therialto.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therialto.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=1903"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therialto.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=1903"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therialto.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=1903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nhectic flights of lilac and pearl
\nand hoverings,
\nwondering perhaps whether to perch on the sill
\nor slip back down to the waste ground
\nwhere the willows wait in the coastal wind,
\nthe silent irises exhale a lemon gold
\ninto the cold air, wet earth.<\/p>\n
\nhigh up here
\nor down there in the busy branches,
\nthe sea of willow leaves.
\nTree-heaven or sky-heaven.
\nDiscarded breast feathers roll down the roof tiles
\nrolling softness through the house,
\na sudden change of heart.<\/p>\n
\npushing and pulling the air with their wings.
\nAre they holding the air together?
\nTheir flock-intention, flock purpose
\nsuggests that nothing in this afternoon
\ncould be here if not for them,
\nas the sun itself perhaps could not rise
\nwithout their urgent singing in the branches before day broke.<\/p>\n
\nKate Keogan, The North<\/em><\/p>\n
\nJudy Gahagan, Ambit<\/em><\/p>\n
\nISBN 0-9527444-6-5<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"