Kenneth Steven

Summary: A collection of poems connected to the island of Iona, the spiritual home of the author.

The island of Iona, part of the Inner Hebrides, located off the west coast of Scotland has been a destination of spiritual pilgrims from around the world. The Iona Abbey is a focal point, purported founded by St. Columba, an exile from Ireland, who brought Celtic Christianity to the island, and Scotland in turn. It became a center of scholarship and monasticism throughout the isles. It is believed that the Book of Kells was at least begun here.

Between the island’s rugged beauty, history, and the abbey, it is regarded by many as a “thin place,” one where the veil between earth and heaven, humans and God seems especially thin. Kenneth Steven, a widely published poet and frequent BBC guest, has spent summers since childhood and longer periods on the island, roving its hills and beaches, often barefoot, as he notes in many of his poems. In this book, poems written on the island on many occasions and for different publications are gathered together. It is apparent that Iona is a “thin place” for Steven, a title of one of his poems and the questions he asks in a poem titled “Iona: “Is this place really nearer to God?/Is the wall thin between our whispers/and his listening?

Many of the poems begin with simple observations of the natural world–of otters, butterflies, spider webs, geese, and woodpeckers. Others hark to the past of the island. We imagine the harp of a Celtic bard or the fiddle of St Kilda. We observe Columba in prayer in the marshlands. We visit the ruins of Clonmacnoise monastery, imagining the community of men who broke the water of wells and lit turf fires in winter.

Some of the poetry in the collection reflect his devotion. In “Honestly,” Steven encounters God not in the stone buildings but the moorlands. In “Island,” he describes coming to the island with prayers that were “ragged things,” the breaking of the jar of his heart, and leaving the island “see through, clear.” “Prayer” wonders how anyone could not believe in God after a blue spring day, fields, orchids, the sea, the wind.

The last part of the book takes us from Iona to the shores of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the communities of the Amish and more global reflections on the land, and on the realities of Good Friday and Resurrection. Yet we cannot help but think that his thoughts take him back to Iona in his final poem in this collection, “Sacred Place.”

This is poetry that lingers long enough in a place to see and receive what is present. To linger in these poems is to glimpse and imagine the world of Iona, as seen and experienced by the author. Until you or I can visit, these poems take us to this “thin place” known as Iona.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.… (meer)

‘’He sat at his window one Sunday morning, blowing warm breath onto the patterning of ice on the inside of the glass, until he could see the world."

Winter can be beautiful.Serene, tranquil, a time of contemplation before the awakening of spring and the anticipation of the carefree summertime. Winter can be harsh, though. Bleak and dark, a time when regret, loss and despair, sadness and guilt can be felt more tensely and acutely. These beautiful stories by Kenneth Steven consist one of the best literary examples of this contradictory season.

‘’Cullen Skink" :A moving story about the relationship between a grandfather and his only grandson.

"Elmeness" A young girl who has suffered a terrible loss tries to find a way out through Art, during the first days of autumn.

"The Skylarks and the Horses" :A young doctor struggling to help a young man suffering from post-traumatic shock. A sad, haunting story taking place in the first days of November.

"Lemon Ice Cream" :The story of an Italian family of immigrants set in New York. A tale in which summer and winter are equally harsh.

"The Song of a Robin" : A story of the First World War told from the side of the enemy.

"The Listener" : A special man leaves Helsinki for a cabin in the woods.

"A Christmas Child" : A heartwarming tale set in a fishing village during mid-November.

"Out" :The musings of a love-struck young man.

"The Gift" : One of the most touching Christmas stories I've ever read. A young boy is rescued from a horrible teacher by his father and a search for mistletoe begins. There is a beautiful, meaningful reference to the Wandering Jew myth.

"The Healing" : A tale of faith coming from the beautiful, mystical, haunting land of Russia.

"The Miracle" : The story of a lifelong friendship in Glasgow, amidst the absurd rivalry between Catholics and Protestants. Oddly enough, this is set on Easter Sunday.

"The Ice" : A fellowship of young people decide to spend sometime in the Lakes, in the Christmas House, escaping from divorce, boarding school and the all-around bleakness of their lives.

These are tales with images of from Scotland primarily but we also travel to Russia, Ireland, Finland. There are pictures derived from the fishing life and the Scottish Isles, themes that call for contemplation. Despair, loss of faith, deceit, death, pain, guilt, hope. The writing is beautiful, faithful to the issues we find in each story. Short stories aren't meant to be complete, they're there to make us think. They're not supposed to be full of action and explanations, but full of thought. The writing here is poetically dark because the stories demand it to be so. Winter tales aren't romance novels with happy endings. They're bound to be bleak and dense. Winter is a time for inner searching, in my opinion. If you wish for a collection of short stories that will stay with you, that will create images of cold winters and even colder families, that will touch your mind and your soul, then give this book a chance....

"He got up, slipped out, glided over the ice towards the Lodge lying in darkness, asleep. He crept inside, found his fiddle case, took the violin and went back out into the very middle of the lake and began playing. And creatures came alive and gathered at the edge of the ice to listen; deer and pine martens with their gorgeous orange tummies, and long-snouted badgers."

Many thanks to Marylebone House and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com… (meer)

2020 by Kenneth Steven is a highly recommended dystopian novel set in Great Britain about a country divided, a terrorist attack, and an populist leader.

2020 is a short, but timely novel. The narrative follows a major terrorist attack on a train traveling between Edinburgh and London. The story is told through wildly different sources, interviews, witnesses, and news stories from a wide cross-section of society. The reader must then piece together the total picture of what happened and the aftermath through these first person accounts. The result is a disturbing picture of a terrorist account and the extreme response to it.

Apparently 2020 was written in 2015, but reads as if it were written today. The first person accounts are all insights into vastly different points-of-view and reactions to a horrible attack. Steven clearly captures the societal division in the UK, but this same division can be seen in other countries as well. Steven covers all sides of the public opinion, so this is a multi-sided focus. After reading 2020, I needed some thinking time - and I really believe that is the whole point of the novel. Yes, it is a novel, but even more it really is a modern day parable. The US version will be released in August.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of the publisher/author.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2018/05/2020.html… (meer)