Strange Nests by Jessica McHugh ASIN : B09BBKQZSH Publisher : Apokrupha (18 Aug. 2021) Language : English File size : 50844 KB Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited Review by Mark Walker for Ginger Nuts of Horror So, poetry is about honesty isn’t it? So let’s be honest. My experience of poetry and deeper understanding of the form is lacking. For someone who is limited to memorising The Charge of the Light Brigade at primary school and loving a book of nonsense poems by Spike Milligan (including the still remembered Fred Fernackerpan) I may not be the best person to be reviewing a book of serious poetry. Or maybe that’s a good thing? I’m not coming with any preconceptions or biases and, to be even more honest, before I read the collection, I didn’t even know what Blackout Poetry was. If Jessica is reading this review, I suspect this is the point where her eye has started twitching and she’s wondering why on Earth is this idiot reading my poetry if he has no idea what it even is? Bear with me, I’m a quick learner… When I received my review copy and flicked through it, every other page was an extract from another book or text, with certain words highlighted and others, well, blacked out. And this fascinated me. As it turns out, blackout poetry (to me) is on another level; a form of poetry that I can only imagine takes a lot of hard work and talent to produce. Intrigued, I just got stuck in… Strange Nests is a collection of just over 40 short poems across 3 chapters, entitled BODY, ROOT and KNIFE, that take the reader on a journey through a range of emotions, exploring themes of life and death, of belonging and leaving, the wonder of childhood and the pain of adulthood, being yourself and knowing others. Although I felt the title of one of the poems, ‘Curious and Gloomy’ could easily be the title of the book as a whole, there is still positivity to be found amongst the pain. The raven is a recurring motif throughout the book and the bird represents a totem of loss and ill omen, of the dead and lost souls, but it can also be associated with prophecy and insight. As the above write up from Amazon attests, the book explores the ‘transformative nature of grief’ and it does so in both positive and negative ways. Or does it? Isn’t that the beauty and the curse of poetry, and not just for the uninitiated? Or maybe it isn’t? Maybe poetry is supposed to paint the world with broad strokes and leave much to the imagination and our own interpretation? I am not sure if my interpretation of Jessica’s words is the correct interpretation, but it is MY interpretation and perhaps that is what counts? Regardless of my understanding, Jessica and her poems have made me feel SOMETHING. My experiences coming into these themes will be different from Jessica’s, but we have all known loss, grief, love and hurt, and Jessica has etched her experiences, pain and emotion onto the page for all to see and share. The reader is allowed take that, internalise it, and enjoy their own interpretation of the words and how they resonate with their life and their experiences. A shared celebration of different experiences. Because I was reviewing the book, I perhaps took longer over them than if I was reading for any other reason, and I took short notes about every poem and what each meant to me. There are a few gaps in my notes for the poems I was not sure about, but the majority have something. They all made me feel something. Actually, even the ones I was not sure about made me feel something and, for someone who is not traditionally a poetry reader, I am intrigued to go back and explore them some more. So I may not have fully understood all of the poems and some may have worked more for me than others, but what is clear from the collection, is that Jessica is a talented poet. I know I said I am no expert, so this might sound a bit strange, or even ridiculous coming from me, but the crux of the matter is this; I read the poems in two sittings, I enjoyed reading them and I didn’t get bored or distracted. I am not going to delve into the poems or try and dissect them individually. I think poetry is a personal thing and, as I have alluded to, if we are going to share the inner, personal thoughts of the poet, we should enjoy our own interpretations and our own feelings. To analyse and compare too clinically would strip the poems of their power and magic; break that secret connection with the poet. Strange Nests is a thought-provoking and powerful collection of short poems exploring a range of emotions and experiences that even a novice poetry reader can appreciate and learn from. It is worth a look, even if it is just to get a glimpse at the fascinating world of blackout poetry Strange Nests |
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