In this compelling collection of poems, Martyn Halsall embraces the Lenten season not just as a Christian observance but as a state of being – one of wilderness, waiting and transformation. His poetry resists straightforward answers, instead inviting readers into a space of stillness and questioning, where meanings shift and possibilities unfold. From personal memories to historical and contemporary struggles, Halsall’s work moves through exile, pilgrimage and alienation, always attuned to the unexpected and the peripheral. His poems do not assert but explore, asking, ‘What if?’ and answering, ‘Yes, but …’ – offering both reflection and reappraisal. With a journalist’s eye and a poet’s heart, Martyn Halsall crafts a collection that is both a passport and a signpost, guiding readers through Lent’s deeper resonances. Life itself, he suggests, is something we are lent – a gift, a process, a question still unfolding.
