On the Way to Jerusalem Farm (PB) (2021)

Carola Luther's new book On the Way to Jerusalem Farm explores the complexities of living in a damaged world. How, it asks, does such a world live in us, and we in it? At the centre of the collection are three sequences, 'Letters to Rasool, ' 'Birthday at Emily Court, ' and 'The Escape.' On the Way to Jerusalem Farm moves through the world, seeking and finding not answers, but sometimes, a means of continuing. The speaker in 'Letters to Rasool' travels onward through scarred and depleted landscapes, and searches for a lost beloved. The ageing residents of Emily Court celebrate a birthday and dance. Spring of a kind still comes. And in 'The Escape' there are colours to be found in the distant sea: 'A whole translucent geology, / cross-sections of light and water.' Poetry for Luther is a way of finding a way, of making connections and sharing our complex lives in an interdependent present. The roles of lover and beloved become--almost--interchangeable in these richly visualised poems.