Books by Jacques Coetzee

(There are shards of light also, butI will say nothing about them.A cellphone camera is recordingwhat may be shared of this moment afterwards.)Unwanted prayers on your behalf, kindnesses that you end up resenting - living with visual impairment is less about matters of sight than it is about problems of perception.A life without mirrors is not a life without self-examination. On the contrary, Jacques Coetzee's debut is a manifesto of personhood, a portrait of a world brought into being by its textures, its movements, and - most importantly - its music. Easy-flowing and sensuous, this is a collection of the unexpected, the strange, and the suddenly beautiful. Unavoidably and undeniably, Coetzee's is a truly unique perspective.

The title should have warned me. On reading the title poem, I realise any of the poems is a gateway into this passion with compassion, into a garden whose fragrances colour every sound lovers make when words have to cope. Make the lovers poets, see how each facet is etched, each jewel worked and polished. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. , Hugh Hodge