While the number of serious readers always seems to be in decline, the truth might be even more pronounced in poetry circles. Maybe a few reviews and positive word-of-mouth can stem the tide or at least forestall it somewhat.
My interest in particular poets is often rooted in an introduction through biographies or other nonfiction work that introduces the reader to the significance of their work and influence in literary and artistic society. The wonderful biography of Frank O’Hara, City Poet (by Brad Gooch) is an engrossing read that makes you want to search out his work. The fact that he was so influential to many subsequent poets makes his story even more remarkable.
Like many lay readers, I can find some poetry mystifying. That is okay. Does one have to be a respected poetry critic to highlight work that is interesting? If you answer “no,” then please read on.
Nathan Evans tackles some weighty issues in CNUT. Many of the poems address the seriousness of the climate crisis and our environmental disintegration. The threats to sharks and dolphins through the contamination of the ocean, endangered birds and dying trees, might seem bleak territory. Rampant capitalism, encroaching gentrification and displacement might add to our hopelessness. No one would dispute that we must pay attention to the most serious issues in our time. Evans’ talent is making you think about them in a series of clever poems that illuminate the problems through tight, often brief, poems.
For example,
Dev The Dragon A dragon called development now lives on our street — each day he wakes us, roaring, each night floodlights our sleep. His noxious breath precedes him, though he never leaves his lair— he’s too busy buttressing the treasure he’ll not share. Another poem (“Hot-Housed”) offered this brilliantly worded stanza: your executive fingers worked close-up magic, misdirecting my eye from untumesced limbs while shafting my freely-givens to the crown and letting next to nothing trickle down.
Other topics get their due, from hookups to nightlife to brief encounters. Just keep reading to find another subject and appreciate Evans’ range. If you will indulge me, I include two more, very short, poems that are particularly appealing.
“Briefs” Mine sit cross-legged, yours lounge abandoned, between them a carpeted no-man’s land.
“Going Grey” When I was younger, life tasted technicolour; my palette no longer registers such vivid hues, recalibrated to a subtler greyscale of silver, platinum, slate, charcoal.
Read this collection. Do your part to support our poets and expand your reading habits to include work that requires a bit more thinking than a straightforward narrative. It might spur you to find other work that challenges and edifies.
The Author NATHAN EVANS ia a writer, director, performer. Maker of film and theatre, and one half of publishers Inkandescent.. His first poetry collection, Threads—a collaboration with photographer Justin David, and was longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize. His poems have also been published in anthologies by Manchester Metropolitan University (A Change of Climate) and Civic Leicester (Bollocks to Brexit).
CNUT is published by Inkandescent and is available at AMAZON
REVIEW: STEPHEN COYQueerguru Contributor STEPHEN COY has been an avid reader all his (very long) life ? and is finally putting his skills to good use. He lives in Provincetown full time with his husband Jim, having finally given up the bright lights of Boston and now haunts the streets mumbling to himself that no one reads anymore …
Labels: 2020, Nathah Evans, poetry, review, Stephen Coy
