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When the Moon is
in the Seventh House
Ghosts of a Low Moon, Andrew Oldham (72pp,
£10, Lapwing)
Horoscopes for the Dead, Billy Collins (116pp,
£9.99, Picador)
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Andrew Oldham’s poems are edgy and a
little dangerous, whereas Billy Collins’ poems are laid back and oddly
comforting, even though he tackles difficult subjects. This is Oldham’s debut
collection whereas Collins is one of the most popular and prolific of the
American poets; he also has a large fan base in the UK. Both books are
beautifully produced with thoughtful cover art. Both poets write about the
ordinary, the everyday, but imbue it with significances beyond the objects
themselves. One of Oldham’s poems is dedicated to Billy Collins, which
indicates some kind of debt is being acknowledged, an affinity or admiration.
Both poets’ work is lyrical, accessible and readable.
I particularly admire Oldham’s poem ‘Captain Webb’s Relations’. Webb was the
first man to swim the channel and he came from Dawley in Shropshire. Oldham
brings his admiration of Webb and his imagination together and sets the poem
in a Leeds pub:
A morse code
of beer, hot chips & black waves that reach us here
He turns the pub into a ship by clever conceit, sustained throughout the poem
in a way that summons up a nightmarish scene in which Webb is fighting the
waves ‘his lungs full / fathom five’ (he drowned attempting Niagara Falls).
Webb was a merchant seaman before he became a professional swimmer; Oldham
reflects this in his poem beautifully. There is indeed something ship-like
about old-fashioned pubs with the gleaming rails and curved bars. The poem is
a hymn for Webb, for endeavour, for the wives who wait and suffer. Webb is
one of the ghosts of the title. This poem is a tour de force.
‘Why Guns Will Never be Legal in England is a witty poem which indicates how
impossibly polite, forbearing and tolerant English people are. Rather than
complain about the neighbours who seem to be taking over the house and the
garden, the speaker in the poem moves away. The poem makes great use of
hyperbole:
They now have
barbeques in my cupboards
Divide in my
bathroom and bung up plug holes
And sit on
the dog we never bought
This is all fun, but it makes its point. Wit and sadness run through these
poems, counterpointed and cumulative. There is recurrent imagery of singing
and ghosts. Oldham’s subject matter ranges widely but always comes back to
people and his observations about them, like ‘Costa Coffee Girl’, ‘Old Man
with Bottle Bottom Glasses on Middle Street’ and ‘Flowers tied to the
Lamppost’.
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Collins’ Horoscopes for the Dead is a much easier read in many ways. The style is more relaxed,
less wrought. Whereas Oldham’s poems make you re-read them a few times, not
all of Collins’ require that. The stand-out poem for me is ‘The Chairs that
no-one Sits in’. Good observational poems tell you what you have already seen
but not thought to ponder on. I have often noticed two chairs put out with
no-one in them. Collins describes the situation with deftness, then moves on
to suggest a kind of resurrection scene:
... let us
suppose one day
that everyone
who placed those vacant chairs
on a veranda
or a dock sat down in them
if only for
the sake of remembering
what it was
they thought they deserved
to be viewed
from two chairs
side by side
with a table in between.
The clouds
are high and massive on that day.
This poem reminds me of a Magritte painting because of its surreal qualities
as hordes of couples stream into view to sit in these seats. I also love the
poem about learning John Donne by heart, as I tend to love Collins’ poems
about my favourite poets. And there are poems too about the making of poems,
such as ‘Poetry Workshop Held in a former Cigar Factory in Key West’, in
which he does what he has resisted in the workshop, and likens poems to
cigars. I really enjoyed all the specialist language to do with cigar
manufacture, such as ‘chaveta’, ring gauge’, hand guillotine’. ‘Grave’ is a
good poem, well made and moving. At his best, Collins is a moving and
accessible poet who gets things just right, but sometimes I find myself
saying ‘so what?’ when I arrive at the last line. Sometimes the poems can
feel quite samey and the voice too laconic. I yearn to see some development in
his writing, some risks being taken that he has not taken before. Andrew
Oldham does take risks and I am interested to see how he develops in the
future.
If you can only afford one of these books, buy Andrew Oldham’s and save your
money for a new selection of Collins poems in which only the very best are
included.
© Angela
Topping 2012
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