Perspectives

This early collection of verse by A. S. Kline, comprises five groups of poems. In ‘Sing To Me Softly Of Earth’ and ‘Talking to the White Goddess’ the poems are varied in nature, though the former group focuses on external themes, while the latter is more personal and internal, consisting of love poems, and verse regarding relations between the sexes. ‘Fifty Dragons For Shen Lung’, derives its imagery from Chinese Taoist literature, while its content may be regarded as ‘pillow-talk.’ Three Pines and a Buddha, consists of brief verses, akin to haiku, one for each day (or night) of the year, intended simply to conjure a thought and a mood. The last group of six poems are poems to accompany Japanese erotic prints, though the ethos they conjure is that of tenderness and deep affection, not mere sexual gratification.