Drawing its title from William Blakes hymn of praise to sexual love Visions of the Daughters of Albion this little book inscribes the word quotlovequot in 22 of its 33 poems They celebrate delights of being in a body But not just sexlove of God of friends parents children pets poems even food all are savored I am struck as well by this poets range of thought feeling and allusion Li Po to Garcia Lorca May Swenson Mary Oliver and Richard Dawkins to Blake the Bible and Shakespeare in the delightful ballad quotIf Will Hath a Will Anne Hathawayquot Most of all I am haunted by the opening piece words of love aborted midsentence by deathHelms has a way of making complex ideas accessible His poems enhance and deepen our intellectual as well as sensual pleasures Read them slowly quotmouth these verses mumble them suck their juicequot he suggests they will enrich you Joanna DalesFifty years ago John Stallworthy compiled The Penguin Book of Love Poetry offering categories such as quotPersuasionsquot and quotCelebrationsquot but also quotAberrationsquot and quotDesolationsquot reminding us that love like the rest of life is difficult and confusing Here Helms offers his own arguments lusty comical often intrinsically problematic expressions of the conflicted gaggle of beings who are human mammals both confined and freed by the need to stay alive and procreativeall with a sense of joyous wonder Richard...
