Merryn Williams loves anthologies and finds this collection of travel poems to be a good and inspiring example
In Transit: Poems of Travel
Edited by Sarah Jackson and Tim Youngs with illustrations by Emma Wright
Emma Press
ISBN 978-1-910139-94-3
£10
I love anthologies. You can browse in them, pick out the poems you love, follow up the poets you haven’t heard of and, if it’s a themed anthology like this one, marvel at how the same subject can be treated from several angles. The excellent Emma Press has collaborated with the Centre for Travel Writing Studies at Nottingham Trent University to produce this short collection, most of whose contributors are unknown to me.
The editors note with some surprise that there are a great many poems about trains, some about boats and aeroplanes and even about walking, but hardly any about the motor car. I wasn’t at all surprised; trains, especially when they are hurtling through the night, are atmospheric and have a history; people have been coming to this island on boats since the dawn of time and aeroplanes can carry bombs. But it can be depressing to rush along a crowded motorway or sit in a jam looking at the advertisements. Rosie Garland’s ‘Empty Quarter’ cleverly describes a lorry ride on a long Arab road which she finds a welcome change:
stripped of the constant bickering
of billboards and their one-upmanship of car, liquor,
sportswear, over and over. There are no other drivers
to tailgate, overtake, undertake, argue the noisy toss
with at red lights; no horns screaming at amber
How much more interesting to be a passenger contemplating the desert and stars.
Another excellent poem, ‘Aboard the Grey Ghost’ by Simon Williams, is written in the voice of a child evacuee crossing the Atlantic and knowing that there are U-boats on the prowl. It ends ambiguously and it resonates in our own century when so many people are entrusting their lives to fragile boats.
And here are boats again, in a perfect short poem, ‘Reading the Water’, by the Canal Laureate, Nancy Campbell. It reminds me of the legend of Moses, a helpless baby launched on a great river, but is actually set in the far north:
Make the boy a kayak
from a speckled skin
let him hold a paddle
strap him safely in
take him to the shore
point the prow to sea
launch him in the shallows
and count to three.
Out of the darkness
seals will rise
to gauge their deaths
within his eyes.
They’ll stare as if
he was one of their own
and dive back down
when you pull him home.
The subjects are highly variable. There is Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman astronaut; there are European settlers naming various parts of New Zealand (which probably have names already, as a matter of fact). Zayneb Allak visits her family in Baghdad between wars and, unlike them, can go back to a place of safety. Nick Littler in ‘The Girls from Maynard’s’, describes a group of randy teenage boys hoping to get off with some girls, who are then shocked to find that one of the girls is ‘alone in bits’, killed by a train. This is a fine little book which may well inspire you to write your own poems about travelling.
Oct 2 2018
In Transit : Poems of Travel
Merryn Williams loves anthologies and finds this collection of travel poems to be a good and inspiring example
I love anthologies. You can browse in them, pick out the poems you love, follow up the poets you haven’t heard of and, if it’s a themed anthology like this one, marvel at how the same subject can be treated from several angles. The excellent Emma Press has collaborated with the Centre for Travel Writing Studies at Nottingham Trent University to produce this short collection, most of whose contributors are unknown to me.
The editors note with some surprise that there are a great many poems about trains, some about boats and aeroplanes and even about walking, but hardly any about the motor car. I wasn’t at all surprised; trains, especially when they are hurtling through the night, are atmospheric and have a history; people have been coming to this island on boats since the dawn of time and aeroplanes can carry bombs. But it can be depressing to rush along a crowded motorway or sit in a jam looking at the advertisements. Rosie Garland’s ‘Empty Quarter’ cleverly describes a lorry ride on a long Arab road which she finds a welcome change:
How much more interesting to be a passenger contemplating the desert and stars.
Another excellent poem, ‘Aboard the Grey Ghost’ by Simon Williams, is written in the voice of a child evacuee crossing the Atlantic and knowing that there are U-boats on the prowl. It ends ambiguously and it resonates in our own century when so many people are entrusting their lives to fragile boats.
And here are boats again, in a perfect short poem, ‘Reading the Water’, by the Canal Laureate, Nancy Campbell. It reminds me of the legend of Moses, a helpless baby launched on a great river, but is actually set in the far north:
The subjects are highly variable. There is Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman astronaut; there are European settlers naming various parts of New Zealand (which probably have names already, as a matter of fact). Zayneb Allak visits her family in Baghdad between wars and, unlike them, can go back to a place of safety. Nick Littler in ‘The Girls from Maynard’s’, describes a group of randy teenage boys hoping to get off with some girls, who are then shocked to find that one of the girls is ‘alone in bits’, killed by a train. This is a fine little book which may well inspire you to write your own poems about travelling.
By Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, travel, year 2018 0 • Tags: books, Merryn Williams, poetry, travel