Publisher's Synopsis
In her first collection, Canuting the Waves, Jackie Hardy challenges the unruly elements. While the Canute approach will not hold back the sea, she accepts that it is human nature to give it a try. She turns the tide of acceptance of wet feet into an adventure as her poems explore the dynamics of control and surrender. Not only do these poems plash about on the edge, they muddy the calm waters of comfortable assumptions, and peer into the rockpools of gender and ageing. Insights, revelations and discoveries ebb and flow in the course of the poems, often to the surprise of the poet as well as the reader. Her voice ranges from gentle chiding and wry comment to bristling annoyance and edginess. In two of her particular specialities, parodies and haiku, the soul of her wit is levity as well as brevity.
