“ Creativity heals trauma” could almost be the summing up of the whole collection of these poems from Sheffield poet Dal Kular. This phrase from the concluding piece “Epilogue“ strikes a poignant chord after you’ve experienced the whole cycle of poems and I had the feeling that catharsis was but one byproduct of this original selection of poetry.
Stylistically the poems are unconventional; some almost concrete poems, others defying those inviolable laws of structure, grammar and punctuation! Hurrah! And for me, poetry works best if I read aloud and (un)interrupted tongues is no exception.
Thematically the work looks at a life lived under the mantle of racial, cultural and creative challenges and I felt there was a metaphysical finger flip to anyone who might say ‘can’t’ or ‘won’t’ because Dal Kular is emphatically telling us that whoever we are, we can.
I found the symbolism of the peacock powerful and maybe because the beautiful cover features peacock feathers I especially loved the poem, (Bruised | 1984 Sheffield. Ghost of We (after Ka Ba, Amiri Baraka) which I thought played with the established idea that the peacock indicates eternal life and regrowth, the annual shedding of the feathers and the growing back.
Audre Lorde is clearly an influence and one poem is addressed to her as ‘Aunty Audre’ as a kind of response to Lorde’s speech ‘The transformation of silence into language and action’ . It’s one of the most compelling poems in the collection.
There is an element of playful defiance throughout the work but there are some astute observations in that wonderful way poetry has of conveying a wealth of concepts within a short phrase, ‘Un-holy the folk.’ from ‘angrez shouts the night alight:’ which is another of my favourite poems and you just have to read this one out loud.I forbid you to do otherwise! 😉
It’s not a volume to be read and hidden away on a shelf with your other poetry books.It’s to be dipped in and out of and proclaimed at salient moments in your life, not just for yourself but for others.
My thanks to Isabelle Kenyon of Fly on the Wall Press for a copy of these poems and a place upon the blog tour.
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