Lost August is a collection of poems by Spalding and this collection won her the Pat Lowther Award in 2000. Divided into three sections, the poems encompass a wide spectrum of thoughts, feelings, images and memories. I preferred the poems in the first part of the book with their reflective natural island feel and focus, probably derived in part from the author's childhood experiences growing up in Hawaii. "Aperture" is a poetic story of a childhood summer of camping, swimming and following a father armed with a tripod on his quest for rocks. "Salad Days" has such a perfect retro feel to it circa the Cold War Era where one is just an observer to the potential threats of missiles and global warning concerns raised by heads of state.

Through her poems Spalding examines the hollowness of ordinary life and the uneven terrain of relationships. One cannot help but feel that pain and poetry seem to go hand in hand for Spalding, where even joy has a restrained balance to its highs. Lush in descriptive prose my overall impression of this collection is an unbalanced one. As much as I enjoyed some of the poems, others left me feeling flat and uninterested. I didn't appreciate how the poem "August" spanned 8 pages with the text only taking up a few lines at the top of each page followed by huge swaths of blank page. I guess that is one way to get your book page count up for publication purposes.

Overall, an interesting collection of poems which showcase Spalding's range and ability for descriptive, reflective prose and may appeal to other readers more. ( )

I don't often read poetry, but I'm glad I picked this collection up. Esta Spalding writes beautifully. Her work is both ethereal and firmly grounded in the real world. Each poem deals with issues and feelings each of us tackles every day, and yet they never seem ordinary. Spalding reaches into her subject, finds what makes it tick, and shows us what's going on beneath the surface. The poems reference one another as well, making this a collection best enjoyed as a whole rather than a poem or two at a time. It's absorbing reading, and definitely something I look forward to revisiting. Highly recommended. ( )