Thicket

In Anna Jacksons fifth collection of poetry, Thicket, a rich and leafy life is closing in on the poet. These are our thicket days, she writes, and it does seem darker, / though the sun is at its peak / over the crown of leaves. But a thicket is also something to walk out of, and Jackson offers us fairytale breadcrumb tracks to follow, through poems that consider badminton at dusk, Virgil at bedtime, theory over wine; shimmering, multi-faceted poems of swans and puppets, sons and brothers, a woman who has become a tree. Thicket is an accomplished book from a poet of unease, who constantly turns her attention to the brambled path, the track less-followed, the subterranean presences in everyday life.