The Laments of the Soul: Thirty-two prose poems

As with so much of Peter Hague's poetic writings, 'The Laments of the Soul' includes many semi-autobiographical references as he does what he does best, and draws the world around his own experience, which is considerable and spans many decades. He then talks with it and listens and obtains something approximating truth, beautifully delivered in an entertaining and accessible way. There is no attempt to define a political stance or viewpoint, though Hague plays along with doctrines and politics, while considering them to be both a decadent betrayal and mostly unworthy of intellectual thought.

"This experimental work of prose poetry has me seeking a new range of poetic expression: one that crosses the familiarity of truncated lines to find a different way of controlling the words, and although it may seem at first that these poems are more verbose than my usual style, this is not actually true; there were many edits of beautiful lines that were disregarded in favour of better flow and concise story telling. Overall, I am pleased with the outcome." PH