Emma Lee is pleased by the musical elements in a new collection by Reuben Woolley
Broken Stories Reuben Woolley 20/20 Vision Publishing ISBN 9781907449031 (no price or contact details given)
The title Broken Stories suggests that the stories were once whole; but a life story is never finished â at least not by a first person narrator. Stories aren’t told in isolation either. Listeners bring inferences and interpretations and may even distort or falsely use the story to their own ends. The first poem implies an influence of music, particularly jazz, â& all that jazzâ
the air blow strong i wail in layers break in tides i play a moon.
There’s a satisfying layer of sound patterns and the solidity in the long vowels of âmoonâ suggests resistance to being pushed around by external forces. It’s a theme picked up in âthe blue violinâ where an old violin is being played by the narrator,
the air vibrates just so slightly off key this is how I play it is my business to be dangerous i do it in crescendo
The final line draws more attention because it doesn’t follow the feminine âsâ or âyâ endings in the previous lines. âCrescendoâ carries the sense of progression in its definition, not spontaneity, so the poem suggests that knowledge and the wisdom of experience allow you play your own tune instead of following someone else’s composition. Music is referred to again in “talks” which starts âthere’s a rhythm / to midnight negotiationsâ and sets up a clichĂ© of âdark corners / with wine & whiskyâ before concluding music âis never & heartbeatâ.
The music poems have a happy marriage of form and content which make them the more memorable elements in the book. Reuben Woolley also explores the frustrations of language: because ‘words come late’ they must rely on memories of the event and do not necessarily capture the event itself. Yet this challenge is also an opportunity to reflect on and better understand the event by moving beyond the (possibly) clichĂ©d first thoughts. The reflective afterthoughts may indeed ‘come / hurting’ but they offer a lasting connection to the past event through story telling. The narratives in Broken Stories are still necessary even if they incomplete.
At times Reuben Woolley uses generic phrasing which can sometimes leave a space for the reader’s own interpretation but may at other times act as a barrier by providing a lack of sufficient detail for a reader to focus on. However, most of these poems triumph in their musicality.
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Emma Leeâs most recent collection is âGhosts in the Desertâ (IDP, 2015), she co-edited âOver Land, Over Sea: poems for those seeking refuge,â and blogs at http://emmalee1.wordpress.com.
A review of âbroken storiesâ by Emma Lee | reubenwoolley
January 25, 2018 @ 1:35 pm
[…] https://londongrip.co.uk/2018/01/london-grip-poetry-review-woolley/ […]
January 25, 2018 @ 2:03 pm
The Broken. Stories collection is priced at ÂŁ9.50 plus P&P and is available by emailing the publisher rhysjones@twentytwentyvisionmedia.com
Reuben Woolley & âbroken storiesâ | Rebecca Gethin
February 25, 2018 @ 11:08 pm
[…] is this review of ‘broken stories’ that I found helpful. And this one too.  This one was written by Emma Lee in London […]