Fool’s Paradise - Zoe Brooks

‘For what is the world

But a string of bloody pearls?

And I lay them on the ground

To play marbles.‘

  I wasn’t sure what to expect from Fool’s Paradise when I was offered a copy for review. Described as a “long form poem“, which has also been performed, piqued my curiosity. But nothing could have prepared me for the depth and insights, along with the rich imagery and metaphor contained within these verses. I just loved it!

The catalyst for the work was apparently the poet’s trip to Prague shortly after the Velvet Revolution. Given the situation today in the Ukraine the broad premise seems topical and pertinent.

I read most of the book out loud and it was more enriching than a merely linear read. And in so doing such a wealth of allusions, memories and feelings were aroused in me. 

Three travellers and a Fool meet, The travellers appear to be fleeing some kind of conflict. And the exchanges between the travellers somehow reminded me of Waiting for Godot initially, then of the witches in Macbeth, indeed the language of the opening verses seemed to echo Shakespeare.

‘Between two rocks at a crossroads,

where the gibbet drips bones

and the sky is grey and heavy

and the curtain is not rent

and the hand of God is indiscernible

and the breath of God is fiery

upon the bare heads of the people

there begins the road.’

But before I could relax fully into Bard mode,  I was reminded of Dante, Heaven and Hell, Milton, Paradise Lost. Then the Fool enters! And whilst Shakespeare is conjured again the fact that the Fool has a dog made me think of Mr Bojangles!! Sublime? Ridiculous? Moi? Echoes of a biblical landscape flickered through my head when Damascus is mentioned and English folklore when the Lyke Wake dirge is sung by the Travellers. (And, yes, I sung it too as I read!) Folklore and traditions were reinforced with references to Punch and Judy and nursery rhymes,

The travellers visit a church and the guardian of the church – Woman in the text – begins quoting Oranges and Lemons.

The language overall is an exciting juxtaposition of modern vernacular and a more stylised poetic language that conjures poets past. References to an “electric razor“ for example. Also the Fool’s first speech that seems so whimsical almost until he speaks of “beating the shit’ out of some stones. But these all nestle so perfectly within the more timeless language.

‘This I have given you. For it is the truth

That when men see terrible things

They laugh. 

And this is a terrible place.’

Thematically the book pulls a punch too, the nature of refugees, perhaps, travelling through necessity rather than pleasure, a sense of displacement, a descent into hell. The characters don’t need names for they are all of us and they are none of us with the Fool to synthesise between all, perplexing and infuriating in his iteration, yet as he informs us he only ‘says what he’s meant to say“. And that offers a sense of inevitability to proceedings. Structurally the book is divided into four parts with an epilogue that is an emotional and oblique retrospective of the entire work. 

There is a deeply spiritual feel to the poem underpinned quite subtly with a political sense of displacement from a conflict. References to the city of angels suggest a past which was peaceful. The travellers tell of their dreams but for me the verses already had a dreamlike quality. I also felt there was much unsaid in the poem, the onus on the reader to intuit and perceive what happens and why it happens.

This is one of the best books I’ve read this year. It satisfies on so many levels. And the joy of reading these words aloud is sublime. Thanks to Isabelle Kenyon and Zoe Brooks for a copy of the book.