Salmon Poetry | "The best collection of bereavement and loss I have read for a long time..."

"The best collection of bereavement and loss I have read for a long time..."

Richard W. Halperin's Anniversary reviewed by Carol Thistlethwaite for Carillon, Issue 30, pages 82-83, July 2011, Rotherham, South Yorkshire

This is the best collection of bereavement and loss I have read for a long time: a wife, a father, friends, a one-off glimpse, a moment. It is like a well smoked ham providing the consumer with all the flavour and yet sparing them the eye-watering smoke. This is the residue skilfully preserved by a poet who knows his craft. I was little surprised to learn that some of these poems are competition winners.

We are shown how life goes on. And yet, how people are recalled in an unexpected glimpse, a shawl, a thought surfacing. It is an internal world of triggered memories and contemplations that challenge how we see things. For example, But who are you when there is a sunflower?

Portrait of a Portrait of My Wife explores the interplay between now-deceased wife, the drawer (a former boyfriend), the husband (now viewer) and that intangible something that hols all things together.

The planes of her face, the movement of his hand

(Two masters always, the drawn and the drawer)

A spot of light - hers? his? Difficult to tell with portraits -

Just outside the frame.

The poise of the hand - hers to this day.

The stroke of the hand - his that day.

The eye of the viewer - mine, not yet twisted away today.

And a spot of light just outside the frame, where

Poise, hand, eye coincide.

The poems have a well rounded feel about them. There are moments of wit:

. . . she did not chose to be old,

but she could chose a hat,

and did.

And moments of linguistic playfulness

A landscape sheeped with dots

Verb in a pinafore

A lass this side of loss

Our world, less or more.

There are evocative moments

You turned a corner inside the little rowboat

and burst into a million colours.

I thought we were on a fishing trip . . . .

and if you want to know more, you'll have to read it yourself. You won't be disappointed.