Of Ochre and Ash

by Eleanor Hooker

Of Ochre and Ash, Eleanor Hooker's third collection of poems, lends to her familiar themes of family, place and memory a trademark uncanny, even otherworldly atmosphere, in which the glimpsed, the intuited and the half-known provide a great deal of the interest.The desire to "see my home from the other side" is a constant, but so too is immersion in the moment and, indeed, the ever-present nearby "darkening lake".

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

Published October 8, 2021

Reviews

[Queen Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetry books are difficult for me to review. There is always at least one poem I just don't get, and then there are some I absolutely love. Eleanor Hooker has poems that are homages to daily life -- these tend to be the poems by any poet that resonate with me the most -- but she also has poems with themes of nature, the lake she lives beside, and I also love those themes. The poems can comfort, but also discomfort, make me think, challenge the status quo of my living.

This is Ms. Hooker's third collection of poems and I wondered how I had not read her before! As a matter of fact, I was discussing this in book club -- on Zoom -- I had just read one of my favorites from the book when someone new joined the Zoom call and it was Eleanor Hooker herself! We had a wonderful chat with the poet about her book and I was so happy I was speaking about a poem I loved when she joined us!

[Susan Maxwell]

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