Cricket Society Journal reviews A Tingling Catch

A brief review of A Tingling Catch appeared in the Journal of the Cricket Society in London. It's nice to be among 'the better offerings' in the collection of nearly 200 pages.

JOHN SYMONS

Review of A Tingling Catch - A Century of New Zealand Cricket Poems 1864-2009, Mark Pirie, Editor (HeadworX Wellington, New Zealand)

 

This is a reprint of the book originally published in 2010 and it's fair to say that the content is a little uneven, with a too-large number of parodies of other songs and poems, most of which seem to have been gathered by Sir Richard Hadlee in an earlier book, Hadlee's Humour, which certainly sounds like a contradiction in terms.

The poems are generally in blank verse (or as we used to say at school - "Sir - Sir - it doesn't rhyme Sir") although the works from earlier times are much more conventional. Poetry is perhaps one of the most subjective of all literary forms and, with the emphasis on things New Zealand; it's hard to know if there will be a widespread appeal for this selection.

The editor, Mark Pirie, contributes a number and they are among the better offerings, but the standout poem is from Jenny Powell, with ‘Under Cover’ which evokes memories of cricket and a relationship shared at the Carisbrook ground with an underlying feeling that the relationship was becoming as sterile as some of the play. Dispassionate with a slight air of wistfulness, this is an unsettling piece and I will look to read more from Jenny Powell. Bonus points to David McGill for attempting a limerick that gets lines to rhyme with Adam Parore.

(From Journal of the Cricket Society, Volume 26, No. 3, Autumn 2012, UK)