REVIEWS

I Left No Footsteps Behind Me – Barry Fitton

 

Barry Fitton writes about real places and people with an easy accessible style and a simplicity which has earned him the soubrette of “Beat Writer”.     He often rejects this label perhaps believing that it is dated but, as his latest collection of poems from his domicile in Amsterdam, I Left No Footsteps Behind Me, proves not only is he a Beat writer but that he is a very fine beat writer and more importantly a writer who deals with contemporary subjects in a modern style.

 

He sets out his objective in the verse laid PROLOGUE

 

 

This is not just about me,

its about a way of life that does not exist anymore,

that cannot exist

because of state of the world that we live in.

there is no longer the trust,

the feeling of safety when you travel,

the freedom to just go where you wanted to

is no longer there ,

so many restrictions

due to wars,

politics  etc.

in  one way

it’s a travel book

in another

 it’s a collection of snapshots

 

 

The collection works to fulfill Fitton’s objective, and reading through the poems gives the impression of viewing incidents and events through his eyes and being made party to them.   Smoking Maruanna which is legally obtained in coffee houses in Amsterdam figures prominently in these poems as he says in A MODERN ODYSSEY

 

 

 

He moved on

into the night

forever searching

he tried

pipes & bongs

vaporizers

and many, many

different

types of

joints

 

They were

hand rolled

machine rolled

factory rolled

sweatshop rolled

in the back streets

of Calcutta

of Bangkok

of Izmir

 And

countless

other strange

&

wonderfilled

places

around the

globe

 &

 Jungles

of Africa

 

From travellers on their way to India who don’t make it, to street philosophers who hand you a bag of life with a warning.   In CANDY MAN he opens the gift of a bag of life which had been given with a warning,  he writes

 

 

inside

all I saw

was a

gilded mirror

the writing

on it said

 

This way

 to oblivion

and

I

knew

it

did

not

lie

 

 

There is a melancholy about these poems which obviously represent a reassessment of his life but at the same time there is a feeling that he would have it no other way.

 

 I Left No Footsteps Behind Me - Hole Books 2004

 

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Maenad Angel Poetics - Dolly Sen

 

In this book Dolly Sen writes the song of an angel rejected by society.  It is a dark book with strong and sometimes troubling images which confront meaning and preconceptions.  It is written in a freely rhymed style with a feeling of a flow of consciousness similar to the improvised hip hop.  And it is the improvisation which stands out and creates weaknesses in the narrative but which is ultimately its greatest strength.  As Dolly Sen writes;

 

The only baggage I have

Is my Wings

 

Is life

A flight of fancy

 

Or again here as she writes;

 

I’m pissing my life away

The urine

Sublime

Of time.

 

Timeless

Is rhymeless

 

 

There is a profound story of modern life being expressed here the alienation of the individual who is a little different and who does not fit in being left behind by a society moving quickly, perhaps too quickly.   Overall this is a very interesting long poem and it deserves to be read at a single reading.  The strongest part is perhaps the ending which manages a satisfying resolution

 

Maenad Angel Poetics - Published by Hole Books 2004

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Earth Tides by Maureen Weldon

Maureen Weldon is a class act, a lyrical poet who imbues every image with the power to evoke a sense of the extraordinary.  In her new short collection Earth Tides she explores everyday events and moments from life. 

 

In THE DANCER she talks of approaching night

 

I am tired

my brain hangs loose,

locked in my rucksack.

This is the hour for the owl to fly,

to hoot at the winking moon –

through clouds of mist.

 

I found this to be a remarkable poem which speaks of her individuality and yet finds a voice that touches everyone.  Many of the poems in the booklet have this quality as here in MEMORY;

 

It is every year,

like the long road,

or the moon

caught in the shadows

of a banyan tree.

Much of Maureen’s work is about taking this personal, sometimes historical, perspective and seeing how an individual can impact upon the world and how much the individual is changed by events.  This is from the poem IN THE FOREST AFTER MIDNIGHT:

A bat streaks past the tip

of a gnarled branched tree

to touch the clouds.

The lad, his eyes translucent

as the stars – dances.

In the shadows, the girl lies,

her open thighs

glistening like needles

 

Events are charged with a quality which evokes but at the same time gives a sense of otherness, that the events and things being spoken of are special and somehow part of secret rituals which only the writer sees.

Earth Tides - £4.00 – (Poetry Monthly Press) ISBN 1-903031-29-X

(Jim Bennett)