Christopher Reid, A Scattering
Christopher Reid’s poetic tribute to the memory of his wife Lucinda Gane has many fine lyrical and narrative qualities. In snatches Reid moves from Crete to London to an Italian market, bringing to life the past that is always present in his mind. He speaks to the departed Lucinda, reminiscing with her, interrogating her, at the same time reflecting on the brain tumour that finally triumphed over her spirit in a North London hospice. The tone throughout is calm and questioning, free alike from Dylan Thomas raging or Tennysonian melancholia. Th