Carla Scarano appreciates Tom Weirâs treatment of uncertainty in his new collection
Ruin
Tom Weir
Templar Poetry, 2018
ISBN 978-1-911132-46-2
ÂŁ10
A sense of loss and renewal pervades the new collection of Tom Weir. His well crafted lines evolve in enticing images involving the reader in an ever-changing world â a kind of space-time dimension where relationships and different languages interweave in a complex process of understanding through describing, or rather evoking, who we are, what we feel and how we learn.
The memories of the death of relatives or friends bring back their presence revealing the illusion of the distinction between past, present and future, as Einstein said on the occasion of the death of one of his friends. Nevertheless, time flows in elegant lines in these poems. At the same time, the poems show the âuncertaintyâ of human condition as in the chains of the swing that âshake when they should remain completely stillâ (âSwingsâ), a continuous movement that reflects our unstable but also transforming state.
Language is the common ground, the tool of communication but it can also be subversive, negative; it breaks the delicate links of relations and produces wounds that are hard to heal. It is a voice that âcreaks like a mast on the windâ (âListening to my mother swearâ), or in the image of a âgunfire rattle/in your mouthâ (âWeightâ). The meaning of words is difficult to utter in the âloose wires of languageâ which a child cannot connect yet. But even a child is aware of the slipping of significance when something dear is in danger (âThe Sacrificeâ).
Words are bricks that construct the world of language, our world, in more or less abstract ways, as in the technical terms in teaching, like âevaporation and disintegrationâ, or concrete words like âclock or tableâ (âVocabularyâ). They blur and blend in âgreens and brownsâ in a hilly landscape in an attempt to find the right balance âto navigate gravity and adjust themselves/accordinglyâ, to âfind a gaze pointâ, grasping
âŠâŠthe language
of the clock on the wall,
how each second has an echo
that needs to be felt but not reached to.
(âBalancing Actâ)
The lyric voice seems to suggest that the ambiguity of language resides in the discrepancy between our effort to observe and describe through words and the inevitable loss of perception that reflects our finite being:
I guess what Iâm trying to say
is that your death
happened after you died,
is still happening now
that thing about stars
outlasting themselves,
that delay of light and sound.
(âFootfallâ)
The fluid rhythm of Tom Weirâs enjambments reflects this evolving thinking that expands and jolts, relates people to people, weather to landscape, time to space. Concepts and meanings come ricocheting back in a loss that is not definitely lost; they linger and leave indelible traces:
so no matter how far your death
was planning to take you,
thereâd be a point of return
where youâd round on the air â
rain clattering off your teeth,
patterns of sunlight and cloud
unravelling on your back.
(âI chose Boomerangâ)
Rain is a recurring motif in this collection; it is a noise, a metaphor for words, a danger approaching as in a flood, but also a shower from the sky in a âcold, damp, beautiful dayâ at the stadium. It is âa thingâ reminiscent of the sacred water of the river Ganges where the loved one lies smelling of incense (âRainâ). It comes out of the blue but also sticks to the ground, âpunctures our skinâ, reveals our vulnerability as âthe slightest breeze knocks us off our feetâ. (âWe are all Vulnerable Tonightâ). However, human vulnerability is also a strength, a capacity to be flexible, compassionate, to adapt and progress, expand and explore, storing memories and transforming what we have learned in a reason to carry on and be innovative.
This is an enthralling collection that combines the sense of being human in an uncertain but expanding universe where relationships are fundamental.
London Grip Poetry Review – Tom Weir
November 27, 2018 by Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, year 2018 • Tags: books, Carla Scarano, poetry • 0 Comments
Carla Scarano appreciates Tom Weirâs treatment of uncertainty in his new collection
A sense of loss and renewal pervades the new collection of Tom Weir. His well crafted lines evolve in enticing images involving the reader in an ever-changing world â a kind of space-time dimension where relationships and different languages interweave in a complex process of understanding through describing, or rather evoking, who we are, what we feel and how we learn.
The memories of the death of relatives or friends bring back their presence revealing the illusion of the distinction between past, present and future, as Einstein said on the occasion of the death of one of his friends. Nevertheless, time flows in elegant lines in these poems. At the same time, the poems show the âuncertaintyâ of human condition as in the chains of the swing that âshake when they should remain completely stillâ (âSwingsâ), a continuous movement that reflects our unstable but also transforming state.
Language is the common ground, the tool of communication but it can also be subversive, negative; it breaks the delicate links of relations and produces wounds that are hard to heal. It is a voice that âcreaks like a mast on the windâ (âListening to my mother swearâ), or in the image of a âgunfire rattle/in your mouthâ (âWeightâ). The meaning of words is difficult to utter in the âloose wires of languageâ which a child cannot connect yet. But even a child is aware of the slipping of significance when something dear is in danger (âThe Sacrificeâ).
Words are bricks that construct the world of language, our world, in more or less abstract ways, as in the technical terms in teaching, like âevaporation and disintegrationâ, or concrete words like âclock or tableâ (âVocabularyâ). They blur and blend in âgreens and brownsâ in a hilly landscape in an attempt to find the right balance âto navigate gravity and adjust themselves/accordinglyâ, to âfind a gaze pointâ, grasping
The lyric voice seems to suggest that the ambiguity of language resides in the discrepancy between our effort to observe and describe through words and the inevitable loss of perception that reflects our finite being:
The fluid rhythm of Tom Weirâs enjambments reflects this evolving thinking that expands and jolts, relates people to people, weather to landscape, time to space. Concepts and meanings come ricocheting back in a loss that is not definitely lost; they linger and leave indelible traces:
Rain is a recurring motif in this collection; it is a noise, a metaphor for words, a danger approaching as in a flood, but also a shower from the sky in a âcold, damp, beautiful dayâ at the stadium. It is âa thingâ reminiscent of the sacred water of the river Ganges where the loved one lies smelling of incense (âRainâ). It comes out of the blue but also sticks to the ground, âpunctures our skinâ, reveals our vulnerability as âthe slightest breeze knocks us off our feetâ. (âWe are all Vulnerable Tonightâ). However, human vulnerability is also a strength, a capacity to be flexible, compassionate, to adapt and progress, expand and explore, storing memories and transforming what we have learned in a reason to carry on and be innovative.
This is an enthralling collection that combines the sense of being human in an uncertain but expanding universe where relationships are fundamental.