In These Days of Prohibition

This was a very short and sometimes too shallow book. There were a couple of good poems which saved the day.

British poet Caroline Bird began her literary career as something of a prodigy – her first collection of poems was published when she was only 15. Since then, her career and her reputation have only grown, verifying that the first collection was not a one-off. And she’s also branched into performance poetry and writing for the theater.What her poetry is known for is its strength of language, and vivid, and often jarring, use of words and metaphors. Reviewers often use the word “vigorous” to describe her poems. Her latest collection, “In These Days of Prohibition,” significantly adds to her reputation for her use of language.“Jarring” is the right word to describe these poems. A poem about a family Christmas is about that, but it’s also about a father who’s a “fruitarian,” a relative who finds a suicide note (that doesn’t sound like one) in his Christmas cracker, and a mother who distributes strange presents, like empty chocolate boxes (what could be worse than an empty chocolate box as a gift?). “Patient Intake Questionnaire” includes some of the strangest questions ever asked at a hospital (Has you pillow developed a strange echo? When barefoot, do your shoes feel too tight?). And then there’s that poem about a toddler creating thunder by dancing on a manhole.These are poems about language, and not playing with language but employing language with a serious intent. Bird’s use of imagery is powerful and unsettling. Consider “I’ve Been Away,” about identity and its loss, and perhaps even the risks of relationship.I’ve Been AwayMy fingers feel limp at the tipslike oversized gloves, as ifstock got lost in transit, stuffingwas mislaid; sediments of spirit.But then, isn’t that the risk? Whenyou vacate your skin, there’s noguarantee of full restitution—a thread of yourself might snagon the fibres of another drifter,forming a splinter soul, two strandsknotted in a spinning clumpsomewhere, out there, in the gloom:unable to return to themselves,unable to fuse into completion,unable to disentangle, coalesce,make plans, or grow bones.Bird, both a poet and a playwright, has published “Looking Through the Letterboxes” (2002), “Trouble Came to the Turnip” (2006), “Watering Can” (2009), and “The Hat-Stand Union” (2013). Her plays include “The Trojan Women After Euripides,” which premiered in 2012; “Play Chamber Piece” (2013); and a retelling of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” (2015). She’s received several literary recognitions and poetry prizes, and her poems have been published in numerous literary and poetry magazines. She lives in London.“In These Days of Prohibition” is a wildly creative collection, using language, images, and metaphors to see the meaning of ourselves and the life around us in very different and unexpected ways.

I do wonder what could be meant by "bursts with linguistic energy" - as the TLS quote on the front describes this book. Seems like one of those phrases you might use when you want to distinguish a certain kind of poetry from prose - but nonetheless there's a few decent poems in this collection, ones that actually employ her usual surreal effects to coherent ends rather than just demonstrations of "linguistic energy". I own "Trouble Came to the Turnip" and this is much better.

Beautifully structured, complex yet accessible, exploring the human condition - shame, addiction, adultery... how we live with ourselves. On the page they seems perfectly formed, poignant and insightful.... in performance they sound conversational and vibrant - Was lucky enough to be at the launch at the Old Vic.

Keep re-reading these beautiful thought provoking poems