Poetry review – A TIME FOR SUCH A WORD: Tina Cole finds a quiet strength in the latest collection by Michael W Thomas
A Time for Such a Word
Michael W. Thomas
Black Pear Press
ISBN 9781913418960
£8
Michael W. Thomas’s ninth poetry collection, A Time for Such a Word contains 53 poems in eight sections. Here are voices with stories that animate a landscape both physical and personal; and the skill of Thomas’ writing enables an in-depth and human view of their worlds.
These poems have something to say that will ring true and they do not disappoint. The tone throughout is easy and relatable, the writing has a distinctive quality of sincere, well-crafted detail where poems are densely packed with rich, vivid imagery. Thomas places characters at the centre and addresses them with tenderness, awe and sometimes wonder. The language is arresting in its fine observations; the reader at once feels caught by the intensity and yet at home with the narrative as if these were all old friends. At times the poems reminded me of the writing of American Poet Laureate, Ted Kooser, who also reflects on past and present lives with sometimes whimsical tones and sometimes acute, clear-eyed appraisals. Poet Alison Chisholm, has also compared Thomas’s poems to the writing of Dylan Thomas and Ted Hughes.
The book’s title is drawn from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act V Scene 5, where the dialogue between Macbeth and Seyton focusses on the death of the queen, and death, or at least ageing, does seem to hover in the wings of this drama but never really makes a grand entrance. There is a retrospective thread on a life lived and inevitable ageing/ mortality but it is also infused with heartfelt fascination, moments in time and a celebration of living – cats and Midsomer Murders also making an appearance! I particularly enjoyed the poignant poem, “Quiet in Whitened Space”
Come a certain time I may simply stand,
dust off the moment’s particulars
go to sit quiet in whitened space
and be about my salvation…
Thomas effectively uses everyday objects to focus the reader and augment the intensity of the writing. The poems are moving but in a low key and sometimes humorous tone, allowing the reader to absorb metaphors of memory and insight without disturbance. “Fastness” recalls
Bits of early school
where the same clock
followed me from room to room
and giants with artillery mouths
and clouds on their shoulders
broke off pieces of the sky
and threw then at fairway heads
Clearly Thomas has drawn on his own experience, but it is the language that sings out and makes these ordinary worlds pulse with life. I love particularly his use of colloquialisms such as, pizzazz, widdershins, woozy, flummoxed and hyphenated gems such as fol-de-rols and fly-by-nights which appear in “Petrol at Yarnton”:
Radio Oxford gives over
with the fol-de-rols about sofa bonanzas
and the latest fly-by-nights who’ll buy any car
There are injections of humour that are moments of joy;
The footings felt for the shoulder of the hill
like someone who knows he’s drunk
and suspects that midnight steps are icy
[“Middle Ash”]
There are also examples of wonderful pictorial vividness
the man who collides
at the turn to my crescent
drunk as elevenpence
flinging all he’s ever been
in staggers to right and left
[“From this Day”]
A Time for such a Word offers journeys leading near and far, through the Black Country landscape of childhood and to distant Grenada in the Caribbean. It is wonderfully packed with reflections on single moments in time and long held reflections of the past. These tender, generous, witty poems need time to be read; each one has much to offer and if I had any criticism, I would say that it is hard to turn the pages and leave one poem behind for another.
In an attempt to choose a favourite I will offer “Throatline”, a poem that deal with much more than the pair of shoes that is its apparent subject matter
A man walks down the last street
of the old year
His tread remembers
crisper vamps of roughout
big hearted canvas quarters
how they curated steps
easier and faster
Now the year drops away
the truth of age
flowers cold through his backstays
and snugs along his tongues
He will not need another pair.
One could say that the softer the voice, the more penetratingly it reaches us. I very much enjoyed these poems, and I think their quiet voices will move other readers too. I cannot recommend them highly enough.
Jun 29 2024
London Grip Poetry Review – Michael W Thomas
Poetry review – A TIME FOR SUCH A WORD: Tina Cole finds a quiet strength in the latest collection by Michael W Thomas
Michael W. Thomas’s ninth poetry collection, A Time for Such a Word contains 53 poems in eight sections. Here are voices with stories that animate a landscape both physical and personal; and the skill of Thomas’ writing enables an in-depth and human view of their worlds.
These poems have something to say that will ring true and they do not disappoint. The tone throughout is easy and relatable, the writing has a distinctive quality of sincere, well-crafted detail where poems are densely packed with rich, vivid imagery. Thomas places characters at the centre and addresses them with tenderness, awe and sometimes wonder. The language is arresting in its fine observations; the reader at once feels caught by the intensity and yet at home with the narrative as if these were all old friends. At times the poems reminded me of the writing of American Poet Laureate, Ted Kooser, who also reflects on past and present lives with sometimes whimsical tones and sometimes acute, clear-eyed appraisals. Poet Alison Chisholm, has also compared Thomas’s poems to the writing of Dylan Thomas and Ted Hughes.
The book’s title is drawn from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act V Scene 5, where the dialogue between Macbeth and Seyton focusses on the death of the queen, and death, or at least ageing, does seem to hover in the wings of this drama but never really makes a grand entrance. There is a retrospective thread on a life lived and inevitable ageing/ mortality but it is also infused with heartfelt fascination, moments in time and a celebration of living – cats and Midsomer Murders also making an appearance! I particularly enjoyed the poignant poem, “Quiet in Whitened Space”
Thomas effectively uses everyday objects to focus the reader and augment the intensity of the writing. The poems are moving but in a low key and sometimes humorous tone, allowing the reader to absorb metaphors of memory and insight without disturbance. “Fastness” recalls
Clearly Thomas has drawn on his own experience, but it is the language that sings out and makes these ordinary worlds pulse with life. I love particularly his use of colloquialisms such as, pizzazz, widdershins, woozy, flummoxed and hyphenated gems such as fol-de-rols and fly-by-nights which appear in “Petrol at Yarnton”:
There are injections of humour that are moments of joy;
The footings felt for the shoulder of the hill like someone who knows he’s drunk and suspects that midnight steps are icy [“Middle Ash”]There are also examples of wonderful pictorial vividness
the man who collides at the turn to my crescent drunk as elevenpence flinging all he’s ever been in staggers to right and left [“From this Day”]A Time for such a Word offers journeys leading near and far, through the Black Country landscape of childhood and to distant Grenada in the Caribbean. It is wonderfully packed with reflections on single moments in time and long held reflections of the past. These tender, generous, witty poems need time to be read; each one has much to offer and if I had any criticism, I would say that it is hard to turn the pages and leave one poem behind for another.
In an attempt to choose a favourite I will offer “Throatline”, a poem that deal with much more than the pair of shoes that is its apparent subject matter
One could say that the softer the voice, the more penetratingly it reaches us. I very much enjoyed these poems, and I think their quiet voices will move other readers too. I cannot recommend them highly enough.