Several of the poems are rhymed - p.7 is abcc, p.9 is abcba, p.10 is in rhyming couplets, p.15 is abab, etc. I wasn't keen on the initial poems. I like the following from "Lifeline", about swimming - "hands cupped like moles' paws/ digging liquid. Time is different here/ - fluid, constant, free of the rhythmic tread/ of tired soles. As I count each length, I swim/ a year of my life". I like "Veteran" too, the final part of "Three Bridges", "Embarkation, 2am", and some of the title poem.
Overall however, the poems aren't interesting enough, either in their content or the way the express the content. Pregnancy ultrasound poems for example, need to be spectacular if they're to avoid cliché.
I like Dickon Abbott's work. I live an ordinary life, and his poems find the beauty in that. They don't pretend that it needs to be spectacular to be worthy or even heroic.
ReplyDelete