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GORDON PARSONS recommends an entertaining account of the years between Germany’s defeat in WWI and Hitler’s seizure of power
Gill Learner - Bitter Harvest
Well Versed is edited by Jody Porter
MIGUEL YOSHIDA explains the evolution and influence of the Cuban Casa De Las Americas in joining culture to the revolutionary struggle
ANDY HEDGECOCK is charmed by a skilful adaptation of Tove Jansson’s lyrical portrait of three generations of a family, overcoming grief
ALEX HALL treads warily through a messy, dialectical struggle fought in the mundane machinery of driving licences, criminal law, and birth registries
MICHAL BONCZA, FIONA O’CONNOR, JAMES WALSH and ANGUS REID review Atlas of Disappearance, Love Me Tender, Bouchra, and This Tempting Madness
Flitting between myth and the modern world, Medusa is determined to steer clear of human affairs. When her resolve crumbles, the result is petrifying in every sense
Bitter Harvest
Gill Learner
Dark limbs twisted into runes, dowager hair
unloosed to capture shine, the tree stands firm
on roots screwed deep into Vaucluse rock.
Indifferent to myth and symbol, patient
of man and mistral, frost and drought,
it offers gold in tiny packages: gifts
for generations who can read
next Monday’s weather on the wind,
know cailletier from tanche, sow and
harvest according to wax and wane.
Down centuries baladi trees have given
food and light, material for carving, polishing.
Now their roots are clutching Hebron air
as the bulldozers retreat.
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