D A Prince observes that Michael Tolkienâs latest collection asks some quiet but important questions
Here and Now
Michael Tolkien www.michaeltolkien.com
Severn Press (34 Severn Avenue, Weston super Mare, BS23 4DQ)
ISBN 978-0-9927935-4-8
76 pp. ÂŁ8.95
Michael Tolkienâs sixth full-length collection is a reflection on how the present engages with the past, and how their connections continue to resonate within the poetâs memory and imagination. The tone, appropriately, is quiet. This is no place for the clatter of experimentation but for the slow accumulation of detail, a comfortable and readily accessible syntax, and the familiar language of everyday. It makes for a coherent collection in which the lack of surprise is compensated for by the recurring motifs. The apparently -simple Here and Now of the title appears in several poems, reminding the reader of the poetâs underlying concerns along with his deep enjoyment of location and its hold on memory.
These poems, drawn from a sustained writing life (his last significant collection, from Salzburg Press, appeared in 2009) are grouped in four separate sections even though the poems share the common theme. The opening section, âSmall horizonsâ, take its name from a self-deprecating poem about that familiar collect or auto-return to source which requires a dog-eared card and i/d. Itâs something weâre all reduced to, hunting out an unfamiliar drop-off address in the hope that the parcel will be waiting. Tolkien ends in a level of uncertainty â Iâm dimly aware that staying put/ is not being still among cross-currents. This recognition recalls a similar probing of existence from âNew Moonâ, the second poem in the collection –
Unsheathed again, it prods me into
asking what if anythingâs
changed course since I craned
to see it a month ago.
But Tolkienâs Rutland home by the willow-lined olive Welland offers him a range of material: the birds, landscapes, trees, neighbours, weather, the background whispering from his favourite lyric poets, as well how to balance the past against the present. In âLight and Shade: A dialogueâ he lets Light ask Where is your here and now? while Shade clings to … where opposed/ poles and undercurrents plague/ every detail like flitting shadows.
The second section. âAnother lifeâ, draws together poems relating to religion and the spiritual life â the … vistas of before/ and beyond .. as Tolkien describes it in âConstructs of the Spiritâ. In many ways I found this the least assured section, partly because a rooted continuity of belief was absent, and the resulting poems skirted the larger questions in favour of circumstantial detail. Even so, in âThe Wordâ he is aware of the shape of such questions â
At offbeat moments a presence beyond
yet deep inside will prod:
a sudden awareness of leaf tongues riddling,
the layered pith of a lemon pip
cracked open as you slice with no thought
beyond juice.
â although whether this is spiritual or closer to the nudge a new poem can give, Iâm not sure.
Poems gathered together in the third section, âVantage Pointâ, have a lighter tone; they are observations about others (often on holidays abroad) or celebrations of family occasions. Here his eye for detail works well: we have a French couple making elegant work/ of tiny coffees … (âOff-Duty Tableauâ); Centuries of gilt-framed squires line/ the old stables, now a cafĂ© and museum (âAncestral Hallâ); He looks young for a father, shy of what/ a camera reveals, putting on a photo smile/ of grim pleasure…(âRandom Flashbackâ).
Finally, the section titled âHere and Now (Especially for Rosemary)â brings the different themes together in a sequence of poems written for his wife. These are a personal shift between the ânowâ and âthenâ, using the overlay of visual memory to reveal the enduring strength of their relationship. Tolkien recalls past holidays, and how one photograph can be taken in the same place as an earlier image, and how even coincidence can play its part â
our first picnic spot chosen without
knowing mum and dad snapped this view
and each other forty years before.
Inevitably these are poems about ageing but it is age that continues a range of activity. The aptly-titled âUnbroken Circleâ, almost the final poem, brings the central theme back to the surface –
Strange that I should turn
to you while we bask in
midsummer morning sun,
just when our tea and coffee
drops below a third full,
and ask: âSo ... what now?â
Isnât this all the ânowâ we need?
The connection between these poems gives a quiet satisfaction, and the carefully-modulated voice supports the balance between question and resolution. Perhaps we should all ask ourselves how much ânowâ we need.
Should you wish to buy this collection you will have to contact the poet at his web address given at the head of this review or else write to Severn Press which has no online presence at the time of writing.
by Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, year 2016 • Tags: books, poetry • 0 Comments
D A Prince observes that Michael Tolkienâs latest collection asks some quiet but important questions
Michael Tolkienâs sixth full-length collection is a reflection on how the present engages with the past, and how their connections continue to resonate within the poetâs memory and imagination. The tone, appropriately, is quiet. This is no place for the clatter of experimentation but for the slow accumulation of detail, a comfortable and readily accessible syntax, and the familiar language of everyday. It makes for a coherent collection in which the lack of surprise is compensated for by the recurring motifs. The apparently -simple Here and Now of the title appears in several poems, reminding the reader of the poetâs underlying concerns along with his deep enjoyment of location and its hold on memory.
These poems, drawn from a sustained writing life (his last significant collection, from Salzburg Press, appeared in 2009) are grouped in four separate sections even though the poems share the common theme. The opening section, âSmall horizonsâ, take its name from a self-deprecating poem about that familiar collect or auto-return to source which requires a dog-eared card and i/d. Itâs something weâre all reduced to, hunting out an unfamiliar drop-off address in the hope that the parcel will be waiting. Tolkien ends in a level of uncertainty â Iâm dimly aware that staying put/ is not being still among cross-currents. This recognition recalls a similar probing of existence from âNew Moonâ, the second poem in the collection –
But Tolkienâs Rutland home by the willow-lined olive Welland offers him a range of material: the birds, landscapes, trees, neighbours, weather, the background whispering from his favourite lyric poets, as well how to balance the past against the present. In âLight and Shade: A dialogueâ he lets Light ask Where is your here and now? while Shade clings to … where opposed/ poles and undercurrents plague/ every detail like flitting shadows.
The second section. âAnother lifeâ, draws together poems relating to religion and the spiritual life â the … vistas of before/ and beyond .. as Tolkien describes it in âConstructs of the Spiritâ. In many ways I found this the least assured section, partly because a rooted continuity of belief was absent, and the resulting poems skirted the larger questions in favour of circumstantial detail. Even so, in âThe Wordâ he is aware of the shape of such questions â
â although whether this is spiritual or closer to the nudge a new poem can give, Iâm not sure.
Poems gathered together in the third section, âVantage Pointâ, have a lighter tone; they are observations about others (often on holidays abroad) or celebrations of family occasions. Here his eye for detail works well: we have a French couple making elegant work/ of tiny coffees … (âOff-Duty Tableauâ); Centuries of gilt-framed squires line/ the old stables, now a cafĂ© and museum (âAncestral Hallâ); He looks young for a father, shy of what/ a camera reveals, putting on a photo smile/ of grim pleasure…(âRandom Flashbackâ).
Finally, the section titled âHere and Now (Especially for Rosemary)â brings the different themes together in a sequence of poems written for his wife. These are a personal shift between the ânowâ and âthenâ, using the overlay of visual memory to reveal the enduring strength of their relationship. Tolkien recalls past holidays, and how one photograph can be taken in the same place as an earlier image, and how even coincidence can play its part â
Inevitably these are poems about ageing but it is age that continues a range of activity. The aptly-titled âUnbroken Circleâ, almost the final poem, brings the central theme back to the surface –
The connection between these poems gives a quiet satisfaction, and the carefully-modulated voice supports the balance between question and resolution. Perhaps we should all ask ourselves how much ânowâ we need.
Should you wish to buy this collection you will have to contact the poet at his web address given at the head of this review or else write to Severn Press which has no online presence at the time of writing.