New British Poetry: 14 Inside the Arc


illuminate every path and nest.

In a forest of fever trees,/ there'd be no shadows.

These poems are made without evident strain, and their resolute order is bewitching. But re-reading them-always the test-unlocks their subtleties without loosening their music, making FEVER TREE a book to return to.

There is an altogether different sense of craft in Chrissie Gittins's ARMATURE (Todmorden: Arc Publications, 2003). This is Gittins's first full collection, and the style throughout is one of introspection's constantly uncovering strangers. Voices from the past-real, imagined and inherited-speak out in the poems, announcing themselves in a manner similar to Robert Browning's dramatic monologues, equally self-promoting and almost equally surprised at finding what it is they have to say for themselves. So surprised, in fact, that the patterns which emerge in the poems are slow to reveal themselves fully. Instead, their impression is gained through repetition, accumulation, a piecing together of images and ideas quilt-fashion, until, it seems we are left knowing as much as the narrators themselves. The most memorable image Gittins suggests for this is 'The Glass Mountain':

Perspex actually, pyramidal, built up/ of smaller pyramids within,/ each refracting light and holding a secret -

Yet many of the poems hint at the fact that perhaps all of us hold such an unknowable group of histories inside us. One of my favorites in ARMATURE is 'Jungle Boy - Mae Surin, Camp 5', which, in spite of its formal integrity, I'll resist quoting in full:

Mie Tha smiles and peacocks open their tails.

...

Mie Tha tells a story of rape and death... ...

Mie Tha strokes a spray of paddy/ and it yields a path of rice over the mountains.

The juxtapositions and tonal shifts that characterize the poems in ARMATURE find a balance and profundity here that are exceptionally effective. Yet while it is a book with many shades of light and dark throughout, its strength resides in the way each can be seen to inhabit the other.

FEVER TREE by Jackie Wills and ARMATURE by Chrissie Gittins, as well as the full catalogue of Arc Publications, can be seen at www.arcpublications.co.uk. Both titles are available from sources such as www.amazon.co.uk.

Next month I'll be looking at two new translations of poetry by Yannis Kondos and Mila Haugová.

The copyright of the article New British Poetry: 14 Inside the Arc in Modern British Poetry is owned by Dr J D Ballam. Permission to republish New British Poetry: 14 Inside the Arc in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic