What I love about Chris Campbell’s work is that he takes the ordinary, the unexceptional, the mundane even, and elevates them poetically into something of greater depth. He has a way of placing events into perspective as he did with his previous collection White Eye of the Needle (reviewed on my blog last year)
This new book offers us his take on an eclectic mix of topics from moving house to the beauty of the natural world. It’s unpretentious and honest work with the poet uncannily putting his finger on the salient.
I especially loved That Which We Own where concepts of ownership are delicately explored’
‘Do you own a tree if it stands
in your garden? Is a shirt
yours if it hangs from your rack?’
and
‘I don’t possess nature, I only borrow
clothes. I transfer money, my food
‘belongs to me only while I eat -‘
I found Ostrich poignant where the poet considers his granddad who would have been ninety nine.
‘…I wonder if your rhubarb still grows;
if your books now gather dust on
somebody else’s shelf?’
They are poems that strike a chord within us and persuade us to reflect on our own lives and situations in ways perhaps that had not occurred to us before.
I also enjoyed Morning very much where the poet describes morning under canvas and considers whether the reality we are in at that moment is the only reality.
‘We see the trees converse,
swaying after staying
up all night
and our beds at home are forgotten
like distant relatives,
as if we were meant to exist here all along.’
There is no sense of being preached at, no attempt at dogmatism, it’s as if the poet is saying, “Here’s what I think, how about you?” It’s a gentle, harmonious collection of thoughts and ideas to be savoured and pondered over time. And of the title? My first thought was ‘No Man is an Island’. But it refers to a specific poem midway through the collection of a metaphysical nature and could easily merit a blog post all of its own! Powerful images.
All Island, No Sea’ is inspired by the arrival of a newborn into Campbell’s family, an upheaval of a house move, and the love for his family which invigorates his life. It also combats how he feels about his own body across the passing of time with a humour and fun that characterises Campbell’s poetry as a whole.
Author Biography:
Chris Campbell is a former journalist living in Bristol. He now works in PR and is a Rotary GB&I Young Writer National Final judge.
‘All Island No Sea’ is Chris’ third poetry book following ‘White Eye of the Needle’ (2021) and ‘Bread Rolls and Dresden’ (2013). His poems have appeared, or are forthcoming, in Dreich, Indigo Dreams’ The Dawntreader, The Waxed Lemon, Streetcake, Yuzu Press, Green Ink Poetry and Lothlorien Poetry Journal. Chris won The Portico Library’s ‘Poetry Prize’ (2021) and has featured on BBC Radio Bristol. Visit www.chriscampbellpoetry.co.uk.
My thanks to Isabelle Kenyon for inviting me to the blog tour and to Chris Campbell for a gifted, signed copy.
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