Borrowed Riches

’Borrowed Riches is an apt title for this fine collection of 100 short lyrics composed by an experienced and skilful poet. With her deft usage of the traditional Japanese tanka form, Julie Thorndyke presents to the reader a range of thoroughly modern, yet universal, emotions expressed in poetry. The centrality of family, human relationships and love is a recurring motif. There are also descriptive pieces featuring birds and flowers, poems about Julie as an author and editor, introspective writing, romance, and nostalgia. A rich array of tanka indeed. And one which is not without some gentle humour. Bravo!’ - Amelia Fielden, poet and translator’With the eye and heart of a poet and her own personal experience, Julie Thorndyke gifts us 100 tanka with universal themes including love, loss, and life - often in the exquisite frame of nature, blooming with birds, trees, flowers, the moon. When tanka are holistic, palpable, and redemptive, you find soul touching moments for the journey. In Borrowed Riches we have a new book to read unhurriedly, that will challenge, affirm, reassure and give us those moments.’ - Colleen Keating’To open the pages of Borrowed Riches is to enter a calm and contemplative world. Julie Thorndyke’s keen observations of nature strike a deep chord and her insight into the nature of time and relationships is profound. This tanka collection is an important addition to any bookshelf.’ - Vanessa Proctor