Literary reviews by Tim Love.
Warning: Rather than reviews, these are often notes in preparation for reviews that were never finished, or pleas for help with understanding pieces. See Litref Reviews - a rationale for details.

Wednesday, 14 June 2023

"Render my heart" by Henry Cleverly (Laundry press, 2001)

No acknowledgements. Many poetic stanzas (allusions to Stevens, Berryman, etc) but few completely satisfying poems. Here are extracts showing the mix of wordplay and philosophy.

  • A reed
    wavers in the wind

    A song thrush starts
    to set its tune
    upon such oracles
    of earth's delirium
    (p.10)
  • Why did I leave you for a rumour of treasure
    to follow tortuous paths up imaginary mountains
    to abstract peaks?
    (p.12)
  • She feels like running backwards
    through a space in time
    but the changes are slow like oceans
    and the moon is a magnet
    (p.15)
  • Around every turn in the path
    are the stones that were used
    to cross the river, still damp
    with our footprints?
    So much for feeling
    invaded by a sense of place
    (p.22)
  • Everything expresses itself
    when simple things stop doubling up
    and become as they were
    (p.31)
  • After second-guessing more
    half-truths lie whitely
    sweet dreams turn sour
    stir them; careful.
    (p.44)
  • Nothing is as beautiful
    as it could be
    everyone is moody

    When amateur dramatics
    end in tears
    no one's moved
    (p.59)
  • what matters
    is what counts, and one to ten is easy
    (p.64)
  • I sit down to weep
    tears from my eyes I cry
    and my heart grows big and sad
    (p.79)
  • In the end
    a bucket is better
    than a theory for carrying
    water from the well
    (p.86)

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