Tag / Book Review

by Cheryl Batavia

Ingrid Wilson

A Bracken Fern

Selected Poems 2020-2025

Ingrid Wilson

A Bracken Fern

Selected Poems

2020-2025

Coming December 5, 2025

The title caught my attention immediately. It brought back memories of swaths of vivid green and the sweet, pungent smell of bracken ferns. Ingrid Wilson is nature’s child, and her love of nature is evident in her poetry.

Beachcombing

I’m thinking about painting

the ocean with its fervor

and its froth.

But for an artist’s eye and hand

I’d render both the sky and land:

The glory and the splendor of the earth.

Photo by Sebastian Hans on Unsplash.

A Bracken Fern evokes the rugged landscapes of Ingrid’s beloved Lake country in Northern England. It is a place of history: impressive ruins from Roman times and, going even further back in time, mystical stone henges and sacred circles. Ingrid has an intimate connection to this land and its storied past that is reflected in her beautiful poetry.

Child of the Wild High Places

…Child of the changing seasons

collecting poetry and rhyming reasons

just to be still a while,

only to smile.

Accompanied by her two young sons, Ingrid recently walked the length of Hadrian’s Wall. What a history lesson…not only for her sons, but also for her fellow bloggers with whom she shared fascinating narration and gorgeous photos of the journey!

https://experimentsinfiction.com

View of Hadrian’s Wall, Cawfields to Gilsland. Photo by Ingrid Wilson.

A Bracken Fern’s exquisite poems share intensely personal observations and emotions. In poignant poems, Ingrid candidly describes her difficult childhood, her grief over the loss of her mother at an early age, struggles with addiction, a troubled marriage, and her longing to return home to the English countryside she loved.

No Homelike Place

…Praying we can find

a homelike place

we build our houses

…but we can never build without

the homelike place

which we must seek, and find and build

within ourselves, which nowhere else endures.

Points North

…And at sundown

out came all the thousand stars,

And I can name the constellations

in this hemisphere

at any time of year:

There is always The Plough above, or “The Big Dipper”

and at its tip, Polaris

The Pole Star points North.

A view near Carlisle, Ingrid’s hometown growing up. Photo by Ingrid Wilson.

Ingrid found her way to health, found her voice in writing poetry, and found her way back to England. There she fell in love with a talented, creative soulmate. Together, they established a new life for themselves and their blended family. Ingrid founded her own publishing house, EIF, Experiments in Fiction.

Poems written about this period of Ingrid’s life are filled with joy. The pages of A Bracken Fern overflow with love poems and vivid descriptions of the family’s adventures. Ingrid has found her well-deserved happiness and has generously chosen to share it with her readers.

Seedhead Hope Song

…Our hopes, though fragile, rising high

as dandelion-seeds dance the sky.

When the Named Storms Come

…And if the post can’t make it through

then I will drive to you

and if I can’t get petrol

I will ride my bike.

All the Way to Midsummer

…all the way to midnight, I

watch full moons rise if only in your eyes

It’s more than moonlight, babe, it’s starlight too

and earth expands

in your cupped hands

Our wedding bands

in secret pledge

I do.

If I Could Paint

the Colours of Your Eyes

If I could paint the colours of your eyes

I fantasise, I’d swim that depth of blue

and what I wouldn’t do

to bring the sparkle back when it has fled

to lift your heart when it’s dispirited.

Ingrid’s poetry is technically perfect, as well as beautifully expressed. A person who spoke no English, hearing Ingrid’s poems read aloud, would surmise that they were listening to music. Ingrid’s background in English literature and her knowledge of history and mythology provide polish and an added dimension to her work. In this book, you will find well-chosen quotes from William Blake, William Wordsworth, Robert Burns, Lao Tse, and Bob Dylan.

If You Kill the Bird

…You’re just an empty cage girl

void of poetry, unheard.

You’re just an empty cage girl

if you kill

you kill the bird.

Photo of Bluebells by Diana Parker on Unsplash.

A Bracken Fern

…In a graveyard graced with bluebells whose heads bowed

drop pollen tears upon the fertile ground

as bracken ferns unfurl their bannered green

to clothe the hillside and these bones of mine.

Spend a pleasant hour or two reading the beautiful poems of Ingrid Wilson’s magnificent new poetry collection, A Bracken Fern. Pick it up again from time to time, and find your spirits lifted by Ingrid’s inspiring words.

Review by Cheryl Batavia

by Cheryl Batavia

The Twisted Circle, by Rosaliene Bacchus (Book Review)

Amazon Review

by Cheryl Batavia

A Window on a Fascinating Time & Place/

Timeless Insights into Human Nature & Relationships

Author, Rosaliene Bacchus was a young, idealistic Guyanese nun for seven years during the tumultuous 1970s and early 1980s in Guyana. Her novel, The Twisted Circle, provides vivid insights into the politics and corruption of both the Roman Catholic Church and the Guyanese government of that period. Nuns and priests are portrayed as human beings with human desires, ambitions, and flaws.

The protagonist, Barbara, a young Black Guyanese nun, suffers sexual harassment from both priests and political figures. Her antagonist, Francis, a racist White American nun who is in love with a priest, considers herself superior to Barbara. She jealously attacks Barbara, publicly accusing her of flirting with men. Francis also feels that she deserves a promotion received by Barbara and tries to sabotage Barbara by any devious means possible. The inclusion of numerous excerpts from Francis’s diary enhances the story of the conflict between these two characters.

Several students in the school, where Barbara and Francis are teachers, suffer sexual assaults from priests. One young boy becomes an angry troublemaker. A promising young girl, attacked by a priest, is forced to quit school because of her pregnancy. A talented and charismatic gay student is found dead shortly before his high school graduation.

Rosaliene Bacchus also provides background about Guyana’s colonial past and how it continues to create problems for the newly independent nation. Conflicts exist among the Black citizens who came as slaves, Indians who came as indentured servants, three native American tribes, and assorted Europeans. There are also numerous people of mixed races.

At the time when the story takes place, many families in rural areas live in squalid housing, without enough to eat, without adequate medical care, and with limited educational opportunities. The Church steps in to help. Teachers, despite limited resources, do their best to help their students. Many nuns and priests, though probably initially well-intentioned, are at the mercy of their human desires and ambitions.

The Twisted Circle is a window on a fascinating time and place. It provides timeless insights into human nature and relationships.

*I read The Twisted Circle yesterday, all in one day. It would have been hard to put down!

Rosaliene Bacchus blogs at <rosalienebacchus@yahoo.com>