In this compelling collection of poems, Martyn Halsall embraces the Lenten season not just as a Christian observance but as a state of being – one of wilderness, waiting and transformation. His poetry resists straightforward answers, instead inviting readers into a space of stillness and questioning, where meanings shift and possibilities unfold.   From personal memories to historical and contemporary struggles, Halsall’s work moves through exile, pilgrimage and alienation, always attuned to the unexpected and the peripheral. His poems do not assert but explore, asking, ‘What if?’ and answering, ‘Yes, but …’ – offering both reflection and reappraisal.   With a journalist’s eye and a poet’s heart, Martyn Halsall crafts a collection that is both a passport and a signpost, guiding readers through Lent’s deeper resonances. Life itself, he suggests, is something we are lent – a gift, a process, a question still unfolding.

Table of Contents:
Contents Introduction     9 1. Memoir Electric Blue     14 The Greatcoat     15 History     16 Moon     17 Spade     18 Class     19 Breaking News     20 Carvers’ Marks     21 Interior Landscape     22 Free     24 Texts     25 Single     27 The Japanese Department     28 Haiku     29 Meeting Place     31 Whaup     32 Wedding Day     34 Magnolia Shadows     35 Safe Home     36 Early Closing     37 Solstice     38 2. Lent Driving to Lent     42 Lent     42 North     43 The Rock Dove     43 Spirit Level     44 Prayer     44 Correspondences     45 TV Times     45 Reflection     46 Scree     46 The Ghost Door     47 Shutters     47  Lancet Windows     48 Lights     48 Gift     49 Present     49 South     50 West to East     50 Warning     51 Indoor Weather     51 Painting Weather     52 Revisiting Rembrandt     52 Air     53 Collie     53 Search     54 Temple     54 Child     55 Sleepers     55 Waving at Trains     56 The Film-maker     56 Legacies     57 Recycling     57 Follower     58 After     58 Poorly     59 Broken     59 Grief (Gaza)     60 Answering the Shoah     60 Woodwork     61 Gold     61 3. Lament Walking Distance     64 Tracing Rembrant     65 Self-portrait with Maulstick, Palette and Brushes     67 Pictures     68 Ammonite     69 Antler     70 Ruin     72 Clearances     73 Loch     75 Trod     76 Gap     78 Sapling     79 No-one     80 RS Thomas on Bardsey     82 Bird Book     83 Reunion     84 Personal     85 Wreaths     86 The Haunting     87 Staff     88 Walking Home     89 Requiem     90 Notes     92 About the author     94