Joseph Massey's latest book of poems – Bramble – arrived at the weekend, from the man himself in Arcata, California. It is a stunningly beautiful book, not too small, with sewn left edge and rich smooth paper (every experience is tactile – reading no less so), in a short print run of 250. All the poems are lunes of 13 syllables, 5-3-5, shorter than the haiku, a form invented by Robert Kelly: "all the English haiku I found or tried to write seemed flabby or slack. Maybe 17 were too many syllables for English, which is much more monosyllabic than Japanese. I tried trimming, and got finally to a 5-3-5 pattern, concave rather than convex, 13 syllables, number of the lunar months. I called the form a lune, and wrote many. In older English, lune also means madness."

These are wonderful poems - they extend with long gentle fingers, seeping and insinuating, opening up your energy, but staying with you all the way. Poems from, of and to the heart. Working hard at Tai Chi the body and the energy take a bit of a battering – the legs get sore and the energy opens up and you feel raw and vulnerable. The problem then with resting and recovering is that the energy tends to curl up and close in on itself in reaction. I use poetry to help that energy horizon – that tingling edge – stay extended and open – to keep part of me reaching out and vibrating with the common soul whilst I'm relaxing and recuperating. Massey's poems are ideal for this because they don't dictate or demand, they just give – they yield. When reading his work I'm always reminded of what William Carlos Williams said about Charles Olson: “he has a feeling for his fellow man which staggers me.” If you'd like a copy email Hot Whiskey Press first to ask for airmail postal rate. Wherever you live it's going to cost less than £10 which for such a treasure is nothing.

          there's a metaphor
        behind each
                breath your life lets go

Ron Silliman reviews this book today on his blog. Obviously great minds do think alike.