Baubles, Bangles & Beads by Amelia Fielden

         Baubles, Bangles & Beads, described by poet and critic Sanford Goldstein
         as a 'triumph,' is a substantial collection of tanka sequences and thematic sets.
         Here are 400 individual tanka threaded onto 40 separate strands. Some strands
         have three to five tanka; one of them contains fifty-four. Their themes are many
         and various: the core section entitled 'Passions' is rich with lyrics on family,
         friends, pets, swimming, tanka writing and travel.

 

 

 

As a tribute to the Japanese tradition, the opening set of the book is called ‘Short Songs’, which is the direct translation of the term ‘tanka’. It begins:

                                                daffodils
                                                and samurai swords
                                                in the shop window
                                                reflecting your face
                                                still softened by love

Baubles concludes with this heart-felt tanka from the prize-winning sequence ‘In the Year of the Dog, 2006’:

                                                together
                                                along the low-tide beach
                                                footprints pawprints –
                                                first hard lesson I learned,
                                                the lifespan of a dog

             ‘Amelia Fielden’s latest book is a major work, a tour de force, a landmark volume of tanka in English … Fielden has achieved a level of integration of the poems, which are themselves notable for their power and authenticity, that elevates this collection firmly into the tradition of such life-works as Tangled Hair by Akiko Yosano … I think this may be a unique accomplishment for a poet writing in English. … In Baubles, Bangles & Beads, you can see first hand how tanka may be used to compose longer poetic works, not as stanzas as has been the western tradition, but as poems which can stand on their own, autonomously, and yet can be used to paint a masterpiece on a very broad canvas, can be used to reveal the complexity and mystery of a person’s life, can sustain their characteristic music beyond the brief air to symphonies of tone and rhythm. I recommend this book very highly to all lovers of tanka. ‘from the review by Denis M Garrison in Modern English Tanka, summer 2007.

‘Amelia … you are certainly a major force in the tanka world … (your set) ‘Forty-four and On’ is a tour de force. It contains, I believe, all the comforts and difficulties of the married life … it really got to me’ Sanford Goldstein, Japan.

‘What a treasure trove tanka bonanza!’ Tom Clausen, poet, USA.

‘We can look through her eyes (in the case of this wonderful poet, a transformative experience) as Baubles, Bangles and Beads relates her search for integration within herself, with those she loves, and with her country and others she has visited, even as she takes every opportunity to confound their conventions. Amelia has produced a body of work that will surprise us, revealing moments of composure in the midst of a busy life, boldly aligning eye, head and heart.’ Patricia Prime, New Zealand, co-editor of Kokako, haiku and tanka journal, review editor of  Stylus.

 Ordering information: available from the author at 20A Elouera Avenue, Buff Point, NSW  2262, Australia, for US$20.00, including airmail postage (US bills preferred).

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