Press Release from Colenso Books: WORDS ON THE TABLE, JIM POTTS

 

PRESS RELEASE

Words on the table, Jim Potts, Colenso Books, London, ISBN 978-1-912788-21-7

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

Words on the table, Jim Potts, Colenso Books, London, ISBN 978-1-912788-21-7

 

Words on the table, Jim Potts’ new collection of over 200 poems has just been published by Colenso Books. Alongside his previous Colenso Books collection, Reading the signs, the two books represent the author’s selections from six decades of poetry written in the many countries where he has lived and worked.

 

The author writes of revolutions, both ‘velvet’ and violent, military coups, Cold War encounters and unfolding historical events to which he was an eye-witness. He lays his cards on the table and “faces off” the Thought Police. He responds to the activities of the Secret Police who hovered in the background throughout the time he worked and travelled in Central and Eastern Europe.  Julian Nangle has written that the book is “truly important and reflects our relatively recent international and national history in a way few books can”.

 

To what extent the author “lays bare his soul” in Words on the table (which another reviewer believes he does) is left to the reader to decide.

 

A lover of the Blues, Jazz, Folk and ‘World Music’, Jim Potts’ poems and songs reveal his passions and diverse interests. Some poems may remind readers of the Beats and their celebrations of life on the road. A Greek poet and translator has compared him to a semi-nomadic “modern-day transhumant, a wry participant and observer of life and a bearer of memory”.

 

His years in Greece, Czechoslovakia, Central Europe and the Balkans have left their mark, as have his experiences in Sweden, the USA, Ethiopia and Australia, Aboriginal art clearly means a lot to him, as much as rock ‘n’ roll, William Barnes’ Dorset dialect poems, modern Greek literature and rebetiko songs.

 

As Michael Rosen has written, Words on the table is “a rich ride”. Many of the poems reflect a strong sense of ironic observation and humour.

 

When in Britain (whether in London, Oxford, Somerset or Dorset) or in Greece, Jim’s poems reveal a love of the countryside and seacoasts, and a deep commitment to environmental conservation. One strand running through his work, written at home or abroad, can be classified as eco-poetry. Another dominant strand is the emphasis on freedom of expression, which could not be taken for granted in some of the countries where he worked.

 

Words on the table is arranged in four sections, after the Introduction:

1. "Birth, life, death" (largely autobiographical and family-related);

2. Songs and singers (the author's songs, and poems about singers and other musicians from many cultures);

3. The written word (reflections on authors and writing);

4. Facing off the Thought Police (poems on censorship, political repression, assassination), followed by a "Postscript on Czechoslovakia" in prose.

 

Three books by Jim Potts have been published by Colenso Books:

 

Words on the table

Reading the signs

This spinning world, 43 stories from far and wide

 

All these books are available on amazon.co.uk, including Words on the table:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Words-table-Poems-Jim-Potts/dp/1912788217/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Words+on+the+table%2C+Jim+Potts&qid=1637422227&s=books&sr=1-1

 

In case of difficulty, contact colensobooks@gmail.com

 

Anthony Hirst, Colenso Books

 

Author page, Jim Potts: 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jim-Potts/e/B003N1JW2U%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share