In the Shadow of

The poetry of Trevor Maynard from this time reflected a personal and social flux with flights into rambling surrealism, as well as punchy sparks of verse firing as little as a single word.

IN THE SHADOW OF

This fifth volume, in the shadow of, is the third of his chronological retrospectives, covering his writing from 1981. The world was cold war, post-punk, and in recession with high unemployment. The Soviet Union held its hammer and sickle high, seemingly about to drop on the West; while in the US, a fame-obsessed gunman attempted to assassinate the President, Ronald Regan; and in the Middle East, Israel and Palestine were at war.

For Maynard, as an anti-nuclear, pro-socialist, teenager, in the midst of raging hormones, it was a scary time, a time of disillusionment; there were riots in Liverpool, UB40 sang of The One In Ten (a reference to unemployment), and inflation soared to 12%. It was also a time of experiment with electronic music and the gender bending new romantic music and fashion to the fore.

Is 2025 any different? Hopefully the fact we survived the past will give us lessons to survive the present, even thought the Doomsday clock ticks now ever closer to the catastrophe. We have lived through the shadows of 1939, 1981, 2001, 2020, and now though shrouded in a dull funk of shade in 2025, we will live to the light of 2030, and beyond.


RETROSPECTIVE VOYAGES

In Maynard's words "This, my journey, is a human journey, and therefore some ideas, concepts, and truths, will resonate with others: hopefully, some will resonate with all. We all form, grow, become; we all age, question, love. The first four volumes have now been published, beginning with Pathways in which I have reproduced the twelve poetry booklets that were published between 1983 and 1986. The second is songs, also from that period, where many’s the time, accompanied by a friend on guitar, my work tended to lyricism and song-writing. In the third: States of Being I began the chronological part of the journey with all my poetry from 1979, with the fourth, The Dreamer Wakes curating my 1980 works. Now for 1981, In the Shadow Of.

Further Reading

Trevor Maynard's contemporary poetry collections are Three Score (2024), Paradox (2021), Grey Sun Dark Moon (2015), and Keep on Keepin' On (2012). His first collection Love, Death, and the War on Terror (2009) - was revised and re-released as The Path Now Known (2020). Trevor is also the editor of many international anthologies including .looking in looking out -, Poems from the Lockdown, Human to Human, Nature 20/20, concataverse. and "The Poetic Bond Vol I - X).

Reviews

"... tunnels of thought.... unravelling established structures with powerful poetic form" (THREE SCORE)

"What struck me was the variety and the off-beat conversational flow of the poems, and the pervasice cynicism and fear that seemed to underly them." (THE DREAMER WAKES)

"Mr Maynard's work was so approachable, and the same time multi-faceted. There is an open-ended freshness to his style that makes reading the pieces aloud very natural." (PARADOX)

"An intimate study of the frailties of life: poetry of the human condition." (GREY SUN DARK MOON)

"The books gives a fascinating insight into the early working of a poet" (PATHWAYS)

"Poems of flowing imagination which at times are surreal, and yet, told in narratives and dialogues that are earthy and matter of fact" (STATES OF BEING)

"Art like this will certainly be looked back on by future generations to gain a deeper understanding fo the human condition during this crisis" (POEMS FROM THE LOCKDOWN)