An example of the poet's elliptical style of narrative is the poem 'I Wonder Why', which is about the sublimation of jealousy. Reading into the poem, the narrative freight is simply this: the object of the author's love has a deep emottional attachment to another person, female. Who this woman (or child?) might be is not clarified, and it is for the reader to interpret, based on the cumulative effect of the foregoing poems.
The author's poetic style is lyrical, combining non-rhyming, freely structured verse with strict, brief stanzas wherein freedom of expression is tightly checked by a strong sense of rhythm and scansion. The author clearly has a good instinctive feeling for the pulse of language. In terms of conveying meaaning, the author's style is elliptical, allusive (sometimes elusive), and it is in this characteristic that the 'quasi'
element of its quasi-narrative underpinning resides. The reader is given very little grounding, and is left to construct his or her own 'story' from the allusive bricolage in the stream of thoughts, feelings and images which make up the poems. With love poetry, this can be a significant strength, because it allows for applicability: a degree on non-specificity is almost a requisite in love poetry (and indeed love songs, from which the audience demands the same kind of personal emotional engagement) enabling it to fit the reader's own experience.
Regarding the emotional freight contained in the poems, the overriding impression is one of sentiment blended with intimate emotional realisms: these are not slushy, sentimental verses for doe-eyed lovers. They are by turns passionate, wistful and forceful. They convey the many facets of love: sexual attraction; dependency;; fear of loss; aesthetic appreciation of the loved one; protectiveness; possessiveness and so on. What we see here is love in all its three dimensions and all its lights, positive and negative.
In conclusion, this is a passionate and powerful collection of love poems. What distinguishes it is the overall cohesiveness of the work and the author's strong sense of language; primarily its rhythmic qualities. As I have observed, although it reflects the experiences and inner self of the author himself, its allusive, elliptical qualities make it applicable to the experences of just about any reasder. Everyone who comes to this volume will find his or her experience poeticised within its pages. This is a considerable strength. |
