This is another collection of verse by award-winning poet Wendy
Cope. Part one contains a selection of poems which, despite the
varying subject matter, have a number of common themes. Many bring
to life everyday experiences with a freshness of vision which
immediately engages the reader, be it of the aftermath of
Christmas, 'a muddle of turkey bones and muted quarrelling', or the
vivid imagery with which Cope describes a 'Colour Chart of House
Paints'. Indeed, she can elevate such mundane experiences to the
level of philosophical questions as she asks 'Why did I buy this
Marks and Spencer's T-shirt/And, having done so, fail to take it
back?' or describes the Sorrow of Socks who 'are loners - They
won't live in pairs'. Other poems have a more lyrical quality as
the poet revels in the simple pleasures of nature or the garden.
Only occasionally does a more disturbing image creep in, such as a
headless squirrel and a dead crow lying on the track, allowing a
moment of gentle self-irony as she reflects on 'My quiet, lovely
nature poem - That was not to be'. Indeed, self-mockery runs
throughout the poems as she describes herself as 'The person with
the Notebook' or tells us, 'A happier cabbage you never did see'.
Part two comprises a longer narrative verse which movingly tells of
the plight of Paul and his experiences of life at school and home
with his stifling, 'decent, law-abiding' parents. The poem is
written with all the benefit of Cope's experience as a primary
school teacher but her insight is enhanced and her message
reinforced by the quality of her writing. Cope's poetry is light,
but not superficial. She tells us, 'Real poetry is no fun at all',
but this is real poetry and it is fun. (Kirkus UK)
Wendy Cope's most recent collection, her first since Serious
Concerns in 1992, extends her concern with the comedy of the
examined life ('the way we have been, the way we sometimes are'),
and imagines those adjustments to the ordinary which would fulfil
our futures, or allow us to realize the golden age of five minutes
ago, or weigh the 'out there' of the present moment, where what is
in sight is also out of reach. These are poems of well-tempered
yearning, conditional idylls which sing in praise of lying fallow,
the creativity of daydream, the yeast of boredom, the truths of
intermediacy. Wendy Cope's formal tact is alertly present - in
triolets, rondeaux, villanelles, squibs, epigrams - small forms
whose power to disarm goes hand in hand with her characteristically
tart ripostes to the way things (usually) are. This collection
extends the variousness of her occasions.
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