BOOK
REVIEW PETER BENNET – THE GLASS SWARM 2008 Flambard Press.
Much
of the writing in this collection is too opaque and as tricky to unlock as a
cryptic crossword puzzle, such as the densely written twelve-poem Folly Wood
cycle inspired by and dedicated to a 15th century alchemist, George
Ripley, but some quality writing shines through.
In
THE PRIVATE VIEW, a woman flirts with an artist, who invites her home, with
lovemaking in mind, but by the time they arrive, they just become platonic
friends, and their relationship is summarised by a polite friend kiss. The
narrator, who watches events as if interpreting a canvas, describes this as a
work of art and beauty in itself.
In
FANCY DRESS a guest turns up as Darwin, and notices that a man in an ape suit
fails to seduce the hostess who wears a Madam Pompadour costume. Is this
evolution ruling out an incompatible genetic situation?
DRAWING
FIRE is about the last moments of a doomed soldier during World War One, and
the destruction, in his death of the future pleasures he looked forward to.
CUPIDS
sees the little Eros’s of love dying or incarcerated in rooms by the lovers of
the narrator, who believes some still move freeing the region he lives.
THE RESTAURANT is about the sadness involved in dining out
alone, and paying for the food you haven’t finished too.
With over 40 poems, finding only six that I can fully appreciate
means the author is not among my favourites. Saturating a collection in
quotations from many literary sources, including The Bible & Chekhov,
always seems rather pretentious to me. But he is undoubtedly a leading poet of
the age, and the book has won awards, and gets thumbs up from the Poetry Book
Society, so maybe it’s just me.
Arthur Chappell
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