Black Umbrella by Katherine Lawrence

Katherine Lawrence’s latest collection, Black Umbrella, is a striking exercise in remembering. These narrative lyrical poems are deeply personal. Yet, they remains effortlessly relatable and accessible, inviting the reader to sift through their own memories—inviting the reader to consider the poetry of their own past. Here, the poet and the reader trace one another’s scars and share the lament for what was and for what might have been, while settling into gratitude for what is.

In the first section, Lawrence takes a deep dive into recollections of her mother. Particularly, her mother’s infidelity. She thoughtfully narrates a childhood home of whispers and secrets, a home that ultimately splits. There is irritation and regret couched within a daughter’s unyielding love. The poet soberly scratches at memory and unearths how she learned to be female, how she learned to be a wife and mother in her own right, how she learned to lean into love and disappointment without the one diluting the other.

Sections two and three recount a more mature poet who makes her home “…miles from the place where [she] was born…” (pg. 52). Marriage and motherhood, aging, death and its aftermath—each memory is inspected and brought into the light with tenderness and exceptional attention to language. You will want to pay attention to the jump cuts. You will want to savour the imagery. This collection is peppered with lines so breathtaking it demands that the reader take a beat and reread. Try doing this out loud and notice the musicality. This only happens with the most resonant of poems. This only happens with a poet as accomplished and practised as Lawrence.

Black Umbrella is highly recommended for seasoned poetry readers and for those who are just beginning. This collection will find a home in your heart; it will bring you home to your own memories.

Black Umbrella By Katherine Lawrence Turnstone Press, 2022 ISBN: 978-0-88801-747-5