Poetry review – A WARM AND SNOUTING THING: Charlie Hill reviews an engaging and intriguingly ambiguous new collection from Ramona Herdman
A Warm and Snouting Thing
Ramona Herdman
Emma Press
ISBN 9781912915293
£6.50
Ramona Herdman delights in the corporeal and this is a collection full of heart. Take the ‘warm and snouting thing’ of the title poem ‘that’s maybe me/or maybe part of me’ and ‘…snuffles round/at possibilities, that bounds/across the fields alongside my commute’:
The thing can sense a kindred thing
across a crowded room, can feel
potential heat in a withheld hand,
can strike a flint on the look
in a stranger’s eye as he returns
my pen in smiling silence.
The poem is also typical in that it allows for several different interpretations of its meaning. The ‘thing’, is part awareness of – and urge to explore – both other people and – with apologies for the imprecision of the term – ‘freedom’: but is it manifest as muse, or lover, or both?
A willingness to engage with a more nuanced aspect of duality of meaning – the reconciliation of seemingly opposed elements – showcases another of Herdman’s qualities. A few of these poems celebrate the comforts and reassurances to be found within a long-term relationship:
Love, I want you clothed.
I want you to yawn and stretch
so I glimpse the reach
of skin at the base of your back
under rucked fabric.
That place I feel the muscles react
when we hug. Like the sway
in the trunk of a tree
when the wind moves its branches.
[“Valentine, thirteen years in”]
Other poems look at desire and the sometimes complex challenges these relationships bring. This is from “Tease”:
we are all civilised here
it’s safe
to bat the entendres back
return the odd glance
but I watch my back walking home
unlock lock the door quick
slip through
double-bolt
like a matador feeling slow
“This is just to say” covers the same ground and is quite superb. As is “Bless email and bless boredom and bless”, about a colleague at work who causes the poet to ‘Bless not-quite invitations/not quite enough to evidence a disciplinary’ and ‘…not walking/to the shops at lunch together’ and other interactions, before finishing with ‘Bless that summer-breathed continuation/of back of the class subdued naughtiness./And bless us for stopping it.’
As well as stimulating an emotional response then, Herdman also makes the reader think. An excellent collection.
.
Charlie Hill
Jun 29 2020
London Grip Poetry Review – Ramona Herdman
Poetry review – A WARM AND SNOUTING THING: Charlie Hill reviews an engaging and intriguingly ambiguous new collection from Ramona Herdman
Ramona Herdman delights in the corporeal and this is a collection full of heart. Take the ‘warm and snouting thing’ of the title poem ‘that’s maybe me/or maybe part of me’ and ‘…snuffles round/at possibilities, that bounds/across the fields alongside my commute’:
The poem is also typical in that it allows for several different interpretations of its meaning. The ‘thing’, is part awareness of – and urge to explore – both other people and – with apologies for the imprecision of the term – ‘freedom’: but is it manifest as muse, or lover, or both?
A willingness to engage with a more nuanced aspect of duality of meaning – the reconciliation of seemingly opposed elements – showcases another of Herdman’s qualities. A few of these poems celebrate the comforts and reassurances to be found within a long-term relationship:
Other poems look at desire and the sometimes complex challenges these relationships bring. This is from “Tease”:
“This is just to say” covers the same ground and is quite superb. As is “Bless email and bless boredom and bless”, about a colleague at work who causes the poet to ‘Bless not-quite invitations/not quite enough to evidence a disciplinary’ and ‘…not walking/to the shops at lunch together’ and other interactions, before finishing with ‘Bless that summer-breathed continuation/of back of the class subdued naughtiness./And bless us for stopping it.’
As well as stimulating an emotional response then, Herdman also makes the reader think. An excellent collection.
.
Charlie Hill