Welcome back to The Book Bag. Last week, I shared my thoughts on the tremendous Elemental by Helen Laycock. 

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This week, between visiting two different shorelines, attending two writing circles and a trip to York including the Christmas market, I’ve been reading;

Toccata and Fugue with Harp

• Author: Margaret Royall
• Press: Hedgehog Press

Toccata and Fugue with Harp was published by Hedgehog Press in 2024. In this collection, Margaret looks back on her formative years questioning whether it was nature or nurture that impacted her life, attitudes and beliefs. 

The collection is split cleverly into three sections, each with a different focus;

Toccata features poems and small short fiction pieces around a post-war childhood, a religious upbringing, and the impact it can have.

Intermezzo looks at how Margaret wants to break free from her roots whilst navigating the after-effects of her upbringing.

Fugue is a crescendo of poems that look at how Margaret views the world in the present offering glimpses into her passion for music, the arts and nature.

Margaret also bookends the collection with Prologue and Epilogue pieces.

Let me begin, by saying that some of the poems in the upbringing section, I could easily relate to. My Gran is religious and attends a Baptist church. One she used to corral me and my siblings to on a Sunday. Also during my GCSEs when I started discussing the fact Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, my Religious Studies teacher quickly told me to leave that week’s lesson (to be fair I didn’t want to do that as a GCSE but was forced when the class I wanted to take was no longer available). It’s fair to say I had a sort of chuckle at the ending of ‘The Swinging Sixties’. ‘A Postcard From Scarborough’ is a poem rich in nostalgia and had me thinking of trips to Primrose Valley and Pontins holidays in the late 80’s & early 90’s. It also reminded me of the time my Dad drove us to France from Northumberland, his Rover breaking down on the wrong side of the channel and my brother not happy in the slightest.

Family traditions and shared, learned knowledge are peeled open in ‘A Strategy for Eating an Orange’ a great observational piece on what we inherit. 

Vivid imagery is dotted throughout, poems including ‘Spurn Point Lighthouse’ and ‘Eye of a Coastal Storm’ contrasting with ‘Charisma In The Third Age’, displaying Margaret’s great skill.

Not only does Margaret deliver rich, sensory language, she also gives us a catalogue of different forms to whet our poetic tastebuds including sestina, villanelle, experimental form and response poetry. 

Throughout the ‘Fugue’ section, Margaret has added a colour and suggested accompanying music to each piece. All the musical choices, I’d say are pretty much perfect partners to the poetry. Keep a tissue or soft sleeve handy, especially for Eva Cassidy’s inclusion.

Get this book if you’re a fan of poetry, full stop. It is a tour de force of emotion, relationships, influence and self. Terrific writing.

Favorite Poem:
‘Brambling’. ‘Allow Me to Be Me’ follows second.

One More Thing… 

Some of the sayings and phrases dotted through Margaret’s book transported me back to growing up in Northumberland. ‘Classy Chassis’ is a phrase from my younger years I’d not heard or seen elsewhere until reading this book.

To find out more about Margaret and her books, click here: https://margaretroyall.com/my-books/ 

To see more about Hedgehog Press, click here: https://www.hedgehogpress.co.uk/

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Next Week’s Read

Looking ahead, here’s what’s lined up for my book bag next week;

• Title: Panic Response
• Author: John McCullough

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That’s it for this week’s reading roundup! If you’ve read any of the books I’m sharing or have recommendations for what poetry I should be reading, drop a comment below. 

Take it easy

Paul