Essays, Art and Plays by Dan

Amanda Bell’s Undercurrents isn’t the kind of poetry collection that shouts for your attention—it quietly draws you in, like the soft murmur of water in the background. It’s the kind of book that asks you to slow down, sit still for a moment, and tune into the gentle rhythm of both nature and memory. In this collection of haiku and haibun, Bell creates a thoughtful link between Irish rivers and the deeper currents of memory and emotion, weaving them together with quiet grace.

The collection flows smoothly between haibun and haiku. At its heart, Undercurrents explores how rivers reflect the passage of time, the experience of loss, and the possibility of renewal. But Bell’s rivers are more than just physical landscapes—they become symbols of the hidden flow of memory beneath the surface of everyday life.

greylag geese graze
as the bog road reappears–
floating thatch reeds

This quiet but vivid image of the bog road, lost to time and then reappearing, feels like a memory you thought was long gone suddenly rising to the surface. Bell shows us how the past, even when it seems forgotten, has a quiet but powerful way of resurfacing.

Bell’s decision to write in haiku and haibun feels intentional and deeply effective. Haiku’s focus on nature and its compact form allow her to distill complex emotions into just a few sharp, well-chosen lines. Haibun, which blends prose with haiku, gives her the space to reflect more personally while still staying grounded in natural imagery.

In Sound Wall, Bell recalls childhood visits to Powerscourt waterfall with her grandfather:

at the foot of
a silver curtain–
silence

The sound of the waterfall, followed by silence, becomes a powerful metaphor for presence and absence, memory and loss. Bell’s work often explores these quiet emotional contrasts—stillness and movement, presence and emptiness—placing them side by side.

Her ability to notice and honor small, everyday moments gives her poetry a quiet emotional strength. In Swiftly Flowing Water, Bell captures a brief encounter with a dipper bird:

high water–
at the corner of my eye
the dipper’s white bib

Moments like these are the heart of Undercurrents—fleeting flashes of awareness that seem simple on the surface but carry layers of emotion and meaning beneath them.

Conclusion

Amanda Bell’s Undercurrents is a quiet but powerful meditation on the connection between nature, memory, and history. Through her thoughtful use of haiku and haibun, Bell mirrors the steady, quiet flow of rivers, reminding us that memory is always moving beneath the surface of our lives, shaping us in ways we may not even realize.

—-

You can read the entire book in the THF Digital Library. Please share your favorite poem from the book with us.

Book of the Week – Undercurrents by Amanda Bell