Citadel by Martha Sprackland

Citadel

Martha Sprackland

The lives of two very different women are captured in poetry form. Spanning five hundred years, the women are linked through verse as their stories play out in their respective homelands of England and Spain. Although the ambiguity of the verse made this an intellectually challenging read, it was nevertheless easy to enjoy the beautifully descriptive language of this collection.

Extract

Time is complicated, especially at these distances.

The crackling string of this makeshift telephone

between two empty tins of cocido

stretches five centuries and is desperate to forget

but they two must stay on the line, must work together

if they are to escape and write this. 

(From Juana and Martha in Therapy) 

Parallels
  • Of Strangers and Bees by Hamid Ismailov
  • Deep Field by Philip Gross