Ruth Padel is one of Britain's foremost poets but sadly she seems less well-known than the likes of Carole Ann Duffy. If you haven't come across Padel before, she's a descendent of Charles Darwin, has a real way with words and yes, she is the one who used some very devious tactics trying to get a job at Oxford University. But you have to forgive her this when you read her poems. She should probably be given on a plate any poetry job you care to name.
I'm reading Padel's collection of poems entitled 'The Soho Leopard'. It isn't her most recent but it is fairly new, and from the very beginning it is clear that her poetry is what I can only describe as beautiful, and tackles a range of subjects, but mostly depicts the sheer beauty of animals and humans and life. In 'Tiger Drinking at Forest Pool', she uses the phrase "flame of the crackle-glaze tangle", which is the first line in ages that has put a huge dopey grin on my face as I read it. What beautiful language - say it allowed, taste it on your tongue. Magic. This sets the tone for the rest of the poems in the collection - tongue-tinglingly exciting English with a magical, almost narrative thread to each poem. In 'Surfaces' there is the line 'soft-soot open-mouth kiss of pulsing gills'. She uses words like 'oolithic' and 'ormolu'. Every poem is just that - pure poetry.
One of the most stimulating and enjoyable books I've read in a long, long time. Just thinking about it makes me smile again. It's finger-licking good.
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