Three Pounds of Cells

by Oonah V Joslin

There’s a lot of outstanding poetry around, but not enough readers. What makes poetry worth reading? Say the poet visits an interesting place. We all visit interesting places now and again. We’re impressed, we remember the place, we tell people about it. But the poet writes about it in such a way the the place is startlingly vivid, the emotions it stirs are both strong and subtle, and the insight that emerges from it is astonishing. We read the poem and feel we have made a discovery. We possess something extraordinary that we didn’t possess before. Oonah visited the Pipestone National Monument in Wisconsin, USA, and her poem 'Pipestone’ has all these qualities. Read it and you make a discovery. Other places in her book, Three Pounds of Cells, places from New York to Brantwood in Cumbria, come to life in equal measure. It’s not only places, but people, works of art, memories, 'ordinary’ experiences made extraordinary. Poetry like this deserves a host of readers.
James Graham

Once I knew only darkness and stillness…my life was without past or future... but a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped to the rapture of living. Helen Keller Our perceptions and interactions make us uniquely who we are. The moment we become aware, everything speaks to us “ not only people but animals, objects, music and art. Poetry first spoke to me because I was a slow reader. Poetry was short. I could manage a poem in reading time at school, going over and over it. Rhymes and rhythms helped me overcome my difficulties..."