GUEST REVIEW: WONG ON PHILIP

The North End of the Possible
Andrew Philip
Reviewed by Jennifer Wong

Published by Salt, Andrew Philip's second collection, The North End of the Possible, is a bold experiment of form and persona. Through the eyes of the enigmatic character MacAdam, we approach familiar environments and scenarios in a new light, and explore the realms of our unconscious. Conjuring a futuristic, surreal landscape with a delightfully lyrical narrative and adventures with form, Philip's poetry offers a completely new take towards modernity: a world of estrangement, ambivalence and bottled-up emotions.

One of his most exciting poems in the collection, '10x10', derives new meanings from wedding anniversary gifts, exploring the idea of intimacy, ageing and the knowledge of the future:

Our younger heads, cast in bronze by a friend,

may occupy a prominent spot beside your Dutch vase,

prevailing over the tinpot fears of aging

as we recall fondly the days of cheap paper,

inexpensive cotton and less heat.

('3. Shagreen')

Throughout the collection, we are given very few clues on the background or motives of the character MacAdam, but the mystery is the salient and unifying theme, alongside carefully juxtaposed, idiosyncratic images, as we observe the protagonist in unlikely situations: his surprisingly imaginative replies that defy the expectations of the interrogator ('MacAdam's Interrogation') and the anticipated destruction of his diary ('MacAdam Takes to the Fire'). Altogether, the poems are imbued with a mixture of dark humour and Beckett-style theatricality, as if the reader is only allowed to access a certain moment of reality and not to dwell on the past or the future:

Aye, but there's dark

and dark the dawn has marvelled at.

It's hidden from him yet, but MacAdam

must drive through with such a gloom...

('MacAdam Takes to the Sea')

Andrew Philip studied linguistics at the University of Edinburgh, and his poems exude playfulness with poetic form and language(s), especially the reinterpretation of dialect(s) in 'MacAdam Takes to the Sky', which is a reflection on the natural characteristics and movements of birds. Given the creative impetus of his language, his poetry displays surprising borrowings, coinages and metaphors, such as 'edgeland', 'a kiln for happiness', 'terrorhope' and 'erasive', and adds a very fine texture to the poems. At times, these experiments with language can border on being too elusive, but such elusiveness is made up for by sophisticated resonance and fluidity.

Marked by an imaginative, postmodern use of language and the poet's attention towards craftsmanship, Philip's latest collection is a profound questioning of ready-made meanings and definition of one's cultural identity in the contemporary world.

Jennifer Wong is British-based poet born in Hong Kong.

A poem for my mother, July 15 When she was dying And I was in a different country I dreamt I was there with her Flying over the ocean very quickly, And arriving in the room like a dream And I was a dream, but the meaning was more Than a dream has – it was a moving over time And land, over water, to get love across Fast enough, to be there, before she died, To lean over the small, huddled figure, In the dark, and without bothering her Even with apologies, and be a kiss in the air, A dream of a kiss, or even less, the thought of one, And when I woke, none of this had happened, She was still far distant, and we had not spoken.

Poetry vs. Literature

Poetry is, of course, a part of literature. But, increasingly, over the 20th century, it has become marginalised - and, famously, has less of an audience than "before". I think that, when one considers the sort of criticism levelled against Seamus Heaney and "mainstream poetry", by poet-critics like Jeffrey Side , one ought to see the wider context for poetry in the "Anglo-Saxon" world. This phrase was used by one of the UK's leading literary cultural figures, in a private conversation recently, when they spoke eloquently about the supremacy of "Anglo-Saxon novels" and their impressive command of narrative. My heart sank as I listened, for what became clear to me, in a flash, is that nothing has changed since Victorian England (for some in the literary establishment). Britain (now allied to America) and the English language with its marvellous fiction machine, still rule the waves. I personally find this an uncomfortable position - but when ...

IQ AND THE POETS - ARE YOU SMART?

When you open your mouth to speak, are you smart? A funny question from a great song, but also, a good one, when it comes to poets, and poetry. We tend to have a very ambiguous view of intelligence in poetry, one that I'd say is dysfunctional. Basically, it goes like this: once you are safely dead, it no longer matters how smart you were. For instance, Auden was smarter than Yeats , but most would still say Yeats is the finer poet; Eliot is clearly highly intelligent, but how much of Larkin 's work required a high IQ? Meanwhile, poets while alive tend to be celebrated if they are deemed intelligent: Anne Carson, Geoffrey Hill , and Jorie Graham , are all, clearly, very intelligent people, aside from their work as poets. But who reads Marianne Moore now, or Robert Lowell , smart poets? Or, Pound ? How smart could Pound be with his madcap views? Less intelligent poets are often more popular. John Betjeman was not a very smart poet, per se....

E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

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