Stray Lines

Verse by Paul Tait

Poetry - General
67 Pages
Reviewed on 04/22/2015
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Author Biography

For over three decades Paul Tait has performed both as a band leader and as a singer/songwriter/pianist. He independently released a series of critically acclaimed recordings, including: "Pop Musician", "Television City", "I Still Believe", “Back In Business”, “Angels Of The City”, "Song to the Moon" “1975”, “Frenemies”, and “I Didn’t Quit I Surrendered”.

    Book Review

Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite

Stray Lines is a collection of poetry by singer-songwriter Paul Tait. As the title suggests, the poems cover varying topics and emotional states, suggesting themes drawn from the author’s past and present states. There is a general sense of alienation and displacement from the world running through most of the verses, as well as a true musicality that makes it impossible to read the words without hearing a certain rhythm and melody in your head. Despite its sometimes sentimental themes, the whole collection leaves you feeling thoughtful and invigorated after reading, and I for one could not put it down.

From the word go, Paul Tait’s beautiful lyricism had me in its grip. The lexical choices, line lengths and combinations that Tait creates in his poetry are spot on to evoke the desired emotions for every different verse in the collection. Stray Lines also stands out for me particularly due to its inherent musical quality, which is rarely successful in the poetic world, but a total triumph in this collection. Whilst I enjoyed every single poem, some particular favourites of mine from the collection were the trapped and fearful sensations in ‘Even Questions Have No Home’ and the slow paced beautiful imagery of ‘Thank You’. As a former literary student and an English teacher myself, I can safely say I’ve never read contemporary poetry this good. Paul Tait’s Stray Lines is sure to delight any fan of beautiful, sophisticated wordplay and evocative imagery. Overall, a superb collection penned by an undeniably talented individual.