Rating:5 stars
Headline: Written with skill and depth – for a book so short, there is so much to take away
Review:
Uprooted – A Season of Grief is the new poetry collection from author Ann Burrows. Living near Vancouver, Burrows turns her pen towards a reflective collection that centres around themes of grief and grief survivorship. Spanning 108 pages, Uprooted bases itself around the four seasons, from Autumn to Summer. The collection is bookended with a foreword from Rick Diamond, a personal friend of Burrows, and an epilogue penned by the author.
Uprooted is focused purely on grief and Burrows’ handling of it following the tragic loss of her father. While there are occasional glimpses of optimism and joy, the focus on loss is very much present throughout. Regardless of the “season”, Burrows raw emotion and determination is evident throughout. Personal highlights include the poems “0 Avenue”, “Letting Go”, and “The World Needs Poets”. In one touching poem, “Sorrow is a Stone”, Burrows manages to capture the essence of grief in one succinct stanza:
Grief is a cold draft—
howling through lava rock walls,
then gone, its echo lingering,
sprinkled on the ground like rain,
woven through the air like lemon eucalyptus.
Where a multitude of poets and authors struggled to convey grief, Burrows only needs five lines to distil an entire emotion. And the above comes from a poem located early in the collection, it is not even the final flourish. Instead, it calmly sets the scene for the exploratory works that follow, varying from the superficial to the abstract. In addition to this, there has to be a small, but notable, mention to the artwork which features on both the cover design and transferred over into black and white for each “season” heading. There are few words to say, it’s a beautiful piece of design.
Crafted using a combination of traditional and unorthodox poetry structures, Uprooted is an emotionally charged ride, start to finish. For a book so short, there is so much to take away.
AEB Reviews
Links:
Reedsy Discovery Review: AEB Reviews – “Uprooted – A Season of Grief” by Mary Ann Burrows
Purchase Link: “Uprooted – A Season of Grief” by Mary Ann Burrows (Amazon)
Author Website: https://maryannburrows.com/uprooted-2/
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