Poetry review â OWL SONGS: Wendy French is grateful for the humanity which runs through Hubert Mooreâs poetry
Owl Songs
Hubert Moore
Shoestring press
ISBN 978-1-912524-82-2
pp 53 ÂŁ10.00
âPoetry can tell us what human beings are. It can tell us why we stumble and fall and how, miraculously, we stand up.â (Mayo Angelou, a woman of colour and activist. Died 2014 ). This quotation is pertinent to much of Hubert Mooreâs poetry, both past and present, for his poems have never been more relevant to the plight of many people in the world than they are today.
Owl Songs by Hubert Moore is âmy book with the delightful cover.â The cover with the dancing safety pins makes me smile and the colours are like vibrant poems themselves. Fifty-three poems, so well-crafted I want to pick the book up, cradle it and devour all the words that are there too. The poems vary in content from quirky and humorous to the wistful, more contemplative and seriously thoughtful. All are equally engaging to the reader. Moore never fails to capture me and take me into his world. Here is an extract from âCrockâ
Broken handles finish off
most cups but this one took up
measuring bird food. Now you find
bits of it in pots aerating soil.
So much is said in the last line. Moore has the ability to use everyday ordinariness and turn it into something special, something to be remembered in times to come. He doesnât force the reader into his way of thinking but leaves space for the reader to add their own interpretation of all that they have read. This a gift for any reader.
In ââThe long way roundâ Moore tells us
âŠThe quickest safest way
canât understand , spins round,
configurates, configurates.
It is such use of everyday language that must have made Moore a very special teacher of English. He has the foresight to see beyond a looking glass and so to reflect what he sees and knows while being able to look beyond it. There are no pretences.
I know an ambulance canât hear
but this one wailing down our road
has caught a note of what
Iâm playing over lunch, Hummelâs
Trumpet Concerto in E flat.
(âThe Two Thingsâ)
Every time I hear an ambulance now these lines come back to me. There is a rhythm in these lines and a cadence that fit so well with this trumpet concerto and the sad notes from an ambulance wailing down the road. This would be a far better satisfactory mode of warning for the general public.
The book is divided into six sections. My favourite section, if I had to choose, would be Section 5, subtitled, âTouching Distanceâ. These poems have a sadness about them incorporating distant things/ people/days gone.
Just to tell you after 18 years
Iâve given your books away.
Yes, Karl Popper, whose mind
you loved, and half hoping thereâs
nobody, half thereâs somebody
somewhere whoâll read them
as warmly as you.
(âThe Love of Booksâ)
Moore has the gift of touching on all our hopes, inconsistencies, idiosyncrasies and longings. This tender, love poem to his wife, dead now for 18 years, has the compassion that many of us have felt or feel after a loved oneâs death. His gift of communication is profound.
The fourth section, âAlmost nibbled throughâ, also shows Moore at his best: that is, doing what he passionately believes in, writing about the right of every living person to be heard and have justice. He has worked with refugees and asylum seekers and listened to their stories.
The blank white space between
the objects was a silent
scream theyâd often heard
but hadnât drawn on yet.
(âWhat the Children drawâ)
Moore is a master in line endings that keep the reader in suspense, âbetween, silent, heard and yet,â What is the blank space between? What was silent? How can the word heard be so near to silent with all its different meanings? And to end the poem with âyetâ â as if in a foreboding of what still awaits these childrenâ sparks a feeling of terror.
In all of Mooreâs books there are poems written about the oppression of others. These poems are so relevant to all that is going on now in Afghanistan. We owe it the people of this war-zone to read this poem and reflect on other lives, other humans.
⊠Like but unlike
The nibbling at the now 88-
year-old process of the law,
the right of everyone
to justice without (the word
is almost nibbled through) delay.
(âNibblingâ)
Mooreâs poetry is in the street. There is no pretentiousness. He demonstrates a sense of humour, an enjoyment of living on the one hand while on the other he has the ability to show compassion with fresh invigorating poems that can move a reader to tears. Although the poems vary in content, the style is consistent throughout, short poems with short lines all being connected through the fragility of being human.
Owl Songs covers a range of emotions and is a good read from cover to cover in one sitting. Thank you Shoestring Press for this new thoughtful, impressive book and a good size for travelling around with as well!
London Grip Poetry Review – Hubert Moore
September 3, 2021
Poetry review â OWL SONGS: Wendy French is grateful for the humanity which runs through Hubert Mooreâs poetry
âPoetry can tell us what human beings are. It can tell us why we stumble and fall and how, miraculously, we stand up.â (Mayo Angelou, a woman of colour and activist. Died 2014 ). This quotation is pertinent to much of Hubert Mooreâs poetry, both past and present, for his poems have never been more relevant to the plight of many people in the world than they are today.
Owl Songs by Hubert Moore is âmy book with the delightful cover.â The cover with the dancing safety pins makes me smile and the colours are like vibrant poems themselves. Fifty-three poems, so well-crafted I want to pick the book up, cradle it and devour all the words that are there too. The poems vary in content from quirky and humorous to the wistful, more contemplative and seriously thoughtful. All are equally engaging to the reader. Moore never fails to capture me and take me into his world. Here is an extract from âCrockâ
So much is said in the last line. Moore has the ability to use everyday ordinariness and turn it into something special, something to be remembered in times to come. He doesnât force the reader into his way of thinking but leaves space for the reader to add their own interpretation of all that they have read. This a gift for any reader.
In ââThe long way roundâ Moore tells us
It is such use of everyday language that must have made Moore a very special teacher of English. He has the foresight to see beyond a looking glass and so to reflect what he sees and knows while being able to look beyond it. There are no pretences.
Every time I hear an ambulance now these lines come back to me. There is a rhythm in these lines and a cadence that fit so well with this trumpet concerto and the sad notes from an ambulance wailing down the road. This would be a far better satisfactory mode of warning for the general public.
The book is divided into six sections. My favourite section, if I had to choose, would be Section 5, subtitled, âTouching Distanceâ. These poems have a sadness about them incorporating distant things/ people/days gone.
Moore has the gift of touching on all our hopes, inconsistencies, idiosyncrasies and longings. This tender, love poem to his wife, dead now for 18 years, has the compassion that many of us have felt or feel after a loved oneâs death. His gift of communication is profound.
The fourth section, âAlmost nibbled throughâ, also shows Moore at his best: that is, doing what he passionately believes in, writing about the right of every living person to be heard and have justice. He has worked with refugees and asylum seekers and listened to their stories.
Moore is a master in line endings that keep the reader in suspense, âbetween, silent, heard and yet,â What is the blank space between? What was silent? How can the word heard be so near to silent with all its different meanings? And to end the poem with âyetâ â as if in a foreboding of what still awaits these childrenâ sparks a feeling of terror.
In all of Mooreâs books there are poems written about the oppression of others. These poems are so relevant to all that is going on now in Afghanistan. We owe it the people of this war-zone to read this poem and reflect on other lives, other humans.
Mooreâs poetry is in the street. There is no pretentiousness. He demonstrates a sense of humour, an enjoyment of living on the one hand while on the other he has the ability to show compassion with fresh invigorating poems that can move a reader to tears. Although the poems vary in content, the style is consistent throughout, short poems with short lines all being connected through the fragility of being human.
Owl Songs covers a range of emotions and is a good read from cover to cover in one sitting. Thank you Shoestring Press for this new thoughtful, impressive book and a good size for travelling around with as well!