A "New and Selected". It starts with a flurry of light effects - "ruined light" (p.13), "weave of light and shade" (p.14), "re-arrangement of light ... conspiracy of shadows" (p.17), "fluencies of light" (p.18), "brittle light" (p.19)
In "Alterations", the 2nd half of the poem is a loose reversal of the 1st - the order of the clauses is reversed, and a few words are moved. There are 3 villanelles - all early.
The phrasing's too poetic for me in places - e.g.
- "Yet still we laughed while a laze of bees drowsed the days" (p.21)
- "Distance deters contact. Stricken, I know we cannot be/ fellow travellers but knowledge is never acquiescence." (p.62) is lofty - not out of context for the page, but not for me all the same.
- "a squall of nurses flood the room landscaped with machines" (p.88)
I struggled with several sections. E.g. "Guest" begins with "Behind the crinkle-crankle wall ropes/ of rain and light litter the path. A crunch/ of bones, the ring of fine glass unzipping/ laughter, rankles the man who stands/ on the edge". I think it's about a guest feeling uncomfortable at a party, but why not have a comma after "wall"? Why is the wall mentioned? Is he inside or outside?
I've already written about "A lope of time", one of her earlier books. I don't think she's my type of poet.
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