If there’s one poetry book you should most definitely own, it’s Pascale Petit’s The Zoo Father. Her writing is powerful, haunting and ethereal, but also very visual – almost strikingly so.
Her other books, The Wounded Deer, The Huntress, Heart of A Deer, The Treekeeper’s Tale and What the Water Gave Me are all excellent, although The Zoo Father is her most disturbing work. However, all of her books are absolutely brilliant. Every word counts.
In The Zoo Father, the poems that are about the narrator’s relationship with her abusive father are riveting and utterly compelling. A tremulous Ambit review of The Zoo Father begins: ‘Pascale Petit’s poems are rather scary.’ Yes, they are. They are also challenging, confrontational, disturbing and powerful. What more could anyone want from modern poetry?
Pascale Petit
Imagine Sylvia Plath on acid and you’ll have some idea of what Pascale Petit’s writing is like. I’ve just read her new collection The Treekeeper’s Tale, and it’s wonderful.
For more information on Pascale Petit and her work, you should have a look at her website, which is:
http://www.pascalepetit.co.uk/
In my opinion, everyone should read Pascale Petit’s work, particularly The Zoo Father.
Written by R J Dent (Sept 2008 – revised August 2010)
R J Dent 