Book review: ‘Where the Road Runs Out’ by Gaia Holmes

As someone who continues to like the idea of poetry while failing to appreciate the vast majority of it, I took something of a risk picking up this slim volume in a local bookshop for no other reason than I liked the cover. I didn’t even realise at the time that Gaia Holmes is a local poet. But I’m delighted to report I very much enjoyed this collection of no-nonsense (well, not-much-nonsense) poems. They’re moving, sometimes quirky, sometimes humorous, and—unusually for most poetry—comprehensible.

Many of the early poems are about Holmes caring for and thinking about her dying father. They’re touching, and beautifully observed. Little did I expect, on reaching the inevitable poem in which Holmes finally witnesses her father die, to be taken by surprise and burst out laughing.

The later poems in the collection are on a variety of topics including landscape and relationships. There’s also a poem about encountering moorland runners that resonated with this particular moorland walker, and an excellent poem about how we somehow used to be able to cope, to appreciate the world, and to feel appreciated without the aid of our mobile phones.

A thoroughly enjoyable collection.