The Night Tree

by Jane Draycott

Burning cars, a young man speechless on a forest floor, girls lost far from home, and a lone lighthouse are images that surface in this latest poetry collection by Jane Draycott. A surreal eeriness exists in these tales of travelers passing along their ways, in the darkness, in transit, hoping for safe passage through unknown territory. Traveling many paths and byways itself, the poetry is imagined with what Sean O’Brien describes as Draycott’s “quizzical, exultant, exact music.”

96 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2004

Reviews

[Mattea Gernentz]

"Think of your blindness as with you
since birth. You will find yourself able
to visualise objects you have never seen:

women with the patience of trees,
signposts frozen with longing [...]
Your only view will be the phases of sky.

At every dead-end there will be fires
and men working a field. Continue turning
until you come to a white road. Take it" (Heron, 43).

[Kelley Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really cute story about decorating a tree for the animals. Would be a great jumping off point for writing about family traditions, for how you can help the earth, or for Christmas as a season of giving