Red Tree is the kind of book Valley Press does best - a debut poetry collection by an exciting Yorkshire-based writer. Readers familiar with the poet's work will find her key motifs of trees, birds and the elements present throughout the book, extended - like branches - across an overarching and universally recognisable narrative of love lost, love found and love treasured.
In this generous selection of forty-five poems, the writer combines flavours of Italy and Japan with distinctly English landscapes, and weather: wind that 'sings and sighs', skies that 'bled grey', thunder that 'rattles brittle windows', and weather that, let into the house, 'blasts the dust that hides on every shiny surface.' The poems also reflect Daniela's love of other art forms, with a dozen poems inspired by particular paintings, installations or music - even Bon Jovi makes an appearance, wishing wistfully on a 'paper tree'. Insightful, lyrical and touching, this is a collection that deserves a place on bookshelves throughout the world - especially yours.
"Daniela's verse is crisp, passionate, full of hope."
Jack Mapanje
"A debut collection that comes fully formed, its neat, tight poems clicking together like a skeleton. Forensically examining the minutiae of a life lived with perhaps too few layers of skin, the verse at first appears delicate and brittle, yet on closer inspection proves to be tough, hard-edged and set to run."
Oz Hardwick
"Tightly woven, passionately lyrical and everywhere suffused with an elegant and subtle music. To read these poems is to feel suddenly in touch with the natural world, but this collection is more than a hymn to the pastoral. Red Tree is a chronicle of growth, from life's pitfalls to its ultimate joys. A timeless first collection from a rare poet."
Steve Nash
'Leaves like birds'
Leaves like birds,
birds like kites,
soaring on the other side
of boring business,
bland bureaucracy.
Crispy, crunchy, catapulted, caught
by wind that sings and sighs,
drawing dismal eyes
to windows. Moody
autumn moments moving,
crashing, calling to the core.
Cursing walls that separate us.
Rising, falling,
sky to floor.
Daniela Nunnari graduated from York St John University with a BA and MA in Literature and Creative Writing. She is a poetry editor for Indigo Rising UK and regularly works with Inspired Youth, helping young people to process and share their experiences of social issues, through poetry. Daniela's poems have been published in Aesthetica, The Word and One & Other.