He has been around for many years. His debut collection was A Washday Romance (McIndoe, 1980). Lambert has always aimed to ''weave a small poetry of quick precision and genuine pathos, returning verse to its natural home in chant and prayer, in psalm and song''.
Lambert's fifth collection, Remnants (Steele Roberts), has more than 50 short poems about loss, perspective and grief.
''Heaven'':
... It isn't loud
but it is unseen
and unexpected
and the two old ladies
briefly tumble
in mid-air,
then topple down the street.
On this day too my girls
are in their lives
and worlds,
my son in his,
and the mother is baking
and the bills
have somehow been paid
and this
is how Heaven is made.
This is a little book full of oomph and texture. It is worthwhile and interesting.
- Hamesh Wyatt lives in Bluff. He reads and writes poetry.
