The Songs of a Sinner – Norm Cairns

This is a short collection of poems, mostly written in the form of sonnets, inspired by the author’s faith. Some is based on Biblical stories, some on other aspects of faith that deserve our attention.

Poetry fascinates me. My own thinking is that it is an especially difficult artform, framed by rhyme, rhythm, meter and structure, which make the challenge of creating even more difficult than it already is.

A poem is like a classical stone sculpture, intricately carved out with vision and planning, with the blank page being like the block of marble – at first glance, blank, cold, daunting, but as inspiration takes hold it becomes a mesmerising thing of beauty. So all credit to any poet who puts pen to paper – I have tried and always failed.

Norm is honest in his introduction about his style and each composition is clearly carefully formed. He writes with honesty, humility and reverence. In fact I would guess, having read the poem in this collection called “Sonnets”, that Norm finds the writing process quite tortuous. The process of refining and forming words to such a degree but still allowing them the freedom to communicate the essence of what is on his heart.

But it is a wholly worthwhile process. The poems are thoughtfully written and thought-provoking for the reader – in fact it is a collection that is worth reading slowly and could work well reading one a day to use as a quiet time or a “thought for the day”. Each poem is also accompanied by a piece of inspiring artwork, to help illustrate the words.

I also much enjoyed the Afterword, a poem dedicated to the memory of Dr Seuss, a man whose work introduced so many children to the love of words and language. It certainly does him credit.

The Songs of a Sinner, by Norm Cairns, is available here.

Thanks to the author for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.