The Forgotten Shore
Poetry and Images by J.P. Linstroth
Poetic Matrix Press 2018
84 pages with four B & W images, $18.00
ISBN: 978-0-9981-469-7-3
The Book
Of course, readers may interpret my poetic lines and find other meanings and these understandings are equally welcome. Sometimes authors are not always aware of what they are representing, even to themselves. In my view, such writings are part of creative processes involving subconscious levels of thought. For some, such thoughts are often difficult to articulate. But this is where the artist enters. Artists, on many levels, interpret the human experience for us and represent these through themselves – whether these are autobiographical or otherwise.
My editor, John Peterson, mentioned to me in our correspondence that my poetry actually challenges the reader intellectually, and as I stated previously, it is meant to be an "archaeology of knowledge" or "an archaeology of emotions". There is a need to dig and dig deeper and dive into the depths of emotions presented on the page. Maybe the language and style used are archaic, or the vocabulary difficult to understand, or the meanings encountered nebulous and obscure. Still, this allows for a broader interpretation, leaving meanings and interpretations in the abstract, whereby the observer, reader, finds their own meanings concealed and contained within the epistemological and ontological direction of the author – myself.
From my point of view, such an archaeology of emotions has a universal quality. All (or, rather, most) of us have known some kind of love, which may either be unrequited or real and lost through break ups and so on. But the human spirit is resilient. We look for love once again.
— from the author's preface
The Forgotten Shore is a fascinating volume of poetry, and according to the author, represents a kind of "archaeology of emotions" to be excavated and explored. At times, the language is difficult and confounding, as J. P. Linstroth often references Greek mythology and archaic speech. Yet, there is something profound about his poetry that draws the reader toward an inextricable communion with his personal emotions and his unique observations of the world. Somehow, there is something akin to Seamus Heaney in Linstroth's abstract poetic style and his linguistic fecundity. His poetry is at once challenging but also accessible. In all, it is a book of poetry to be cherished and read – and then read again.
— Dr. Paul Gibbard, Senior Lecturer European Languages and Studies, The University of Western Australia
Author
J. P. Linstroth is an Adjunct Professor at Barry University, he is the author of the book Marching Against Gender Practice: Political Imaginings in the Basqueland (2015, Lexington Books). He obtained a D.Phil. (PhD) in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Oxford with several awards for his research concentrating on the Spanish-Basques. Linstroth was a recipient of two travel grants from the Basque regional government to speak on issues of peace and conflict resolution in the Basque Country (2005 & 2006) and a signatory of the Brussels Declaration for Peace to end ETA violence (2010).
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