Book review: readers can see themselves in Sharp's writing
In Places You Catch Yourself there is a sparsity to the words and an expansiveness to the emotion that pierces both the mind and the heart.
Who is this woman, we wonder? Even as we see ourselves in her writing — as the protagonist or the antagonists that haunt her words.
‘I’m just here for the ride
With my 30 year old fragile pride
Convincing me there’s more to you than meets the eye.’
Who hasn’t been there — deluding themselves about their partner? Wanting it to be more than it is? Aware of the delusion but still unwilling to let it go?
Or maybe you’ve been on the other side? The fleeting fancy of one who loves love and the dream?
This is where Sharp excels — in her ability to scatter a few words across the page and weave whole heart-breaking scenarios into mesmerizing form, inviting readers into the centre of her magic. We go there, with her, into places, where we catch ourselves.
Despite the mostly-scanty words scaffolding each poem, these are not poems to gorge on, one after another. Sharp’s work begs to be savored, sentence by sentence, until it seeps into our cells and succeeds in its mission — to induce reflection and recognition of our own remembrances of related scenes in our life.
She invites our life onto the page alongside hers, so that together we can marvel at this miracle of being a flesh and blood human with a heart that bleeds and lungs that weep, gently reminding us every step of the way at oh how wondrous this is!
Yes, even the heartbreak. Especially the heartbreak.
‘I’ll drop you off on blank pages
try to write the memory of you
out of me.’
Technically, some poems could have benefitted from an editor, supporting Laura to go deeper, go further, craft more. Yet her instinct for weaving words composes such powerful magic that the odd poem that trails off is forgiven. Craft comes over time, and Sharp has that ineffable spark of vulnerability that bleeds truth onto the page and makes us take a sharp breath of recognition.
We know what she speaks of, and it’s rare that someone reaches into the depths of their being to pull out their still-beating heart and offer it up to the Gods of the blank page. This is a gift.
And people feel it because in an age where people are less inclined to buy books, let alone poetry books (who reads poetry!) Sharp’s book is captivating people who didn’t even know they needed it. It’s being picked up wherever it is stocked, including cafes and bookshops, and it’s not being put down again. People buy it. They walk out the door. And they take home a piece of Sharp’s heart to remind them of their own.
Laura Sharp is a Scottish poet whose work seeks the delicate balance between sass and soul. Her poetry has been featured in The Lupine Review and the BBC. Places You Catch Yourself is her first collection, compiling the chaos of the never ending search for home in new places and strangers’ faces.
Sharp appears at the Whistler Writers Festival on October 18, 2024. Tickets are on sale now.
Review is by Kara-Leah, a voracious reader and writer who delights in the power of words and thrills to see other writers trust in and fulfill their dreams. Find her books on Amazon.