Deep, thoughtful poetry
5 steloj
I've very much enjoyed reading Mark Engelsson's poetry on his Ko‑fi over the past year so I was thrilled when he announced the publication of his first poetry collection, What If What's Inside Me Isn't Me? I expected deep, thoughtful poems and I certainly wasn't disappointed in that, although I wasn't perhaps prepared for so many to be so dark. The collection spans some twenty years of Mark's poetic creations and includes a good mix of literal poetry and more abstract work.
I felt a strong dystopian vibe in The Same Grave and loved Three Slogans with its great interpretation of 1984's doublespeak. Where Were You When Gave Up? is poignantly sad with its evocation of lost dreams. This was one of the works with which I identified rather too strongly! Breathe In And Out was the poems that I connected with most although I think that Alice In Nightmareland …
I've very much enjoyed reading Mark Engelsson's poetry on his Ko‑fi over the past year so I was thrilled when he announced the publication of his first poetry collection, What If What's Inside Me Isn't Me? I expected deep, thoughtful poems and I certainly wasn't disappointed in that, although I wasn't perhaps prepared for so many to be so dark. The collection spans some twenty years of Mark's poetic creations and includes a good mix of literal poetry and more abstract work.
I felt a strong dystopian vibe in The Same Grave and loved Three Slogans with its great interpretation of 1984's doublespeak. Where Were You When Gave Up? is poignantly sad with its evocation of lost dreams. This was one of the works with which I identified rather too strongly! Breathe In And Out was the poems that I connected with most although I think that Alice In Nightmareland was my favourite.
What I loved most about What If What's Inside Me Isn't Me? however, is its shifting fluidity. I read it straight through twice, but have also dipped into it on several occasions over the past few weeks, recognising and appreciating different things in different poems each time. It's tricky to explain, but I don't feel as though this is a book that I have read (in the pastry tense) and finished with, but one which I can continue to revisit each time connecting with a new emotional moment or turn of phrase.