Poetry book cover for The Beachcomber's Report by Paul Maddern, Publ Templar Poetry 2010

 The above cover is straightforward but abstract.  It seems to carry on a simplistic theme.  Not too many colours.  Not too many images.  This makes it uncluttered and attractive.  The loose outlines and fish swimming in what could be mid air indicate it is abstract.   The rough dark outline at top of page could convey fishing nets or boats out with nets. The blue below appears to be land or could be a cliff as sloping. Outline birds are often used and usually indicate seagulls. Birds are abstract as not fleshed out. These bird outlines fit neatly into the theme of the beach in the same way that the woodpecker image fitted supremely well into the contents of the The Orchard, a book I cover shortly in this blog. 

The blue could be the land or a cliff.  Yellow could be the beach.  Or a reversal could be going on here with the land blue and the sea yellow. Despite the simplicity there is something striking, maybe because there is only a few images they are  stark, memorable and stand out.

Simple art work on the cover does tend to indicate to me that text that will be easy to follow.  However, as it is a book of poetry and language is often used to maximum effect in poetry I realised that on this occasion I "could not judge a book by its cover."

Inside the cover, Justin Quinn relates that "On one occasion Maddern says: "For I would tell you simply . . . .' but thankfully he never quite delivers on that promise. The poems lead us astray, through strange landscapes and noir cityscapes. . . " (The cover does hint at strange landscapes).