Stephanie Jane recenzis Silence of Islands de W. M. Raebeck
A lovely, brave poetry collection
4 steloj
Poetry is such a personal writing medium yet, when done well, it has an uncanny way of channelling universal emotional responses to love or grief or joy and that is exactly how I felt reading so many of W M Raebeck's accomplished poems in her collection, Silence Of Islands. This retrospective of her life's work takes us from a picturesque Greek island to the serene beauty of Hawai'i, from the rush of kindling a new romantic relationship to the grief of parental bereavement. I loved transposing Raebeck's atmospheric portrayals of her Zaxos sojourn over my memories of Lesbos and Paxos, and I was very moved by the way in which I could so completely identify with her grief at losing her father when I remembered my own mother's passing. I wish I had had this book back then. Raebeck's words articulate so beautifully how I was feeling at a time …
Poetry is such a personal writing medium yet, when done well, it has an uncanny way of channelling universal emotional responses to love or grief or joy and that is exactly how I felt reading so many of W M Raebeck's accomplished poems in her collection, Silence Of Islands. This retrospective of her life's work takes us from a picturesque Greek island to the serene beauty of Hawai'i, from the rush of kindling a new romantic relationship to the grief of parental bereavement. I loved transposing Raebeck's atmospheric portrayals of her Zaxos sojourn over my memories of Lesbos and Paxos, and I was very moved by the way in which I could so completely identify with her grief at losing her father when I remembered my own mother's passing. I wish I had had this book back then. Raebeck's words articulate so beautifully how I was feeling at a time when I didn't have the clarity of thought to express myself adequately. I could have simply pointed to Don't Leave or I Will Not Pretend, for example, and allowed these poems to help others understand me.
Silence Of Islands is a generous collection comprising more than eighty poems and I appreciated how the timespan over which they were written resounds within the work as a whole. The 1970s poet is a very different woman to the 2010s poet, yet I felt I could sense her increasing maturity with her youthful experiences informing her later compositions. A lovely, brave collection that I am grateful to have had this opportunity to experience.