Review – Ambush at Still Lake

Ambush at Still Lakeby Caroline BirdGenres: Poetry Pages: 83 Rating: Synopsis: Caroline Bird's new poems show us the ambush of real life that occurs in the stillness after the happy ending. This is a collection about marriage, lesbian parenthood, addiction and recovery in which a recurring dream is playing out: a world where mums impale themselves on pogo-sticks, serial killers rattle around in basements, baby monitors are haunted by someone else's baby and, through it all, love stays and stays like a stationary rollercoaster that turns out to be the scariest, most thrilling ride in the amusement park. I admit to mostly picking up Caroline Bird’s Ambush at Still Lake for the pulpy cover, when browsing the National Poetry Library’s collection via random tags. Her editor’s reaction does sum things up pretty well: “It is bleak, repellent and hilarious in an American Psycho-ish way. Hectic and vivid.” I wasn’t a huge fan overall, though I recognised the poems as well written and well…