Poetry pamphlet review - 'Where you start from'
'Where you start from' by Lindy Barbour. Published by Mariscat Press 2015. £6.00.
The title of Lindy Barbour's first poetry pamphlet reveals the author's skill in finding just the right word or phrase and thereby implying layers of meaning in her poems. 'Where you start from' not 'I',
not 'we' but 'you' which could be addressed to her brothers, to whom the collection is dedicated, her parents, her readers and/or herself.
These poems exquisitely chart her early years growing up in North East Fife. The pamphlet opens with the first poem, 'First, the Garden, November 1956',
'We opened the back gate in the high wall
and, entering from William Street, found you waiting,'
This poem is a tender evocation of a memory of her childhood garden and as with other poems in the pamphlet, it sharply highlights the differences between adult concerns,
'That's not laurel, it's a camellia'
and those of a child,
'I stand beside the coal shed learning your scents;'
The title poem set in a busy tenement gently describes a teatime scene, as a sister and younger brother run into the flat,
'The front door stands open and they rush through the hall
to the kitchen, where time rolls in spit balls on the Rayburn
and rises in the steam of the kettle;'
Lindy's language is restrained and sometimes not very much happens in her poems but the warmth and vividness of memory is almost palpable.' Where you start from' also showcases Lindy's wonderfully dry sense of humour. Especially in those poems where she neatly observes the goings on between children her wit is at its best, for example in 'Small Town Christmas',
'I'm putting my Mum's mince pies on a plate
though nobody wants to eat them because they're homemade
when Jimmy Syme, who hates me, says, 'They're weird,'
and stamps on my foot.'
and in 'Harbour Steps' which is a fabulous study of teenagers growing up in a small town, the author's downbeat language wonderfully summons up teenage lust and self consciousness.
'Lilias asks me what I think about Pat Pow.
Is she overdoing the Sandie Shaw lookalike thing?
And I say, 'The haircut is good but she should lay off the bare feet.
They're dirty and she has a verucca. I saw it in the gym and it's green.'
Loss and death are beautifully written about in the second half of the pamphlet and woven through the author's memories of the deaths of her father and mother are observations about changes in the Fife town she grew up in alongside significant objects such as a white basin, a table and an undertaker's hut.
Writing about the people and places closest to us is one of the hardest things to do in poetry and prose. It is very difficult to choose what to write about and what to leave out because there's so much potential subject matter. So I feel that these very personal poems not only work together very well but should also appeal widely. I'm a big fan of Lindy's poems and I'm looking forward to her next collection. In the meantime go out and buy 'Where you start from' and I hope you enjoy these finely crafted poems as much as I do.
The title of Lindy Barbour's first poetry pamphlet reveals the author's skill in finding just the right word or phrase and thereby implying layers of meaning in her poems. 'Where you start from' not 'I',
not 'we' but 'you' which could be addressed to her brothers, to whom the collection is dedicated, her parents, her readers and/or herself.
These poems exquisitely chart her early years growing up in North East Fife. The pamphlet opens with the first poem, 'First, the Garden, November 1956',
'We opened the back gate in the high wall
and, entering from William Street, found you waiting,'
This poem is a tender evocation of a memory of her childhood garden and as with other poems in the pamphlet, it sharply highlights the differences between adult concerns,
'That's not laurel, it's a camellia'
and those of a child,
'I stand beside the coal shed learning your scents;'
The title poem set in a busy tenement gently describes a teatime scene, as a sister and younger brother run into the flat,
'The front door stands open and they rush through the hall
to the kitchen, where time rolls in spit balls on the Rayburn
and rises in the steam of the kettle;'
Lindy's language is restrained and sometimes not very much happens in her poems but the warmth and vividness of memory is almost palpable.' Where you start from' also showcases Lindy's wonderfully dry sense of humour. Especially in those poems where she neatly observes the goings on between children her wit is at its best, for example in 'Small Town Christmas',
'I'm putting my Mum's mince pies on a plate
though nobody wants to eat them because they're homemade
when Jimmy Syme, who hates me, says, 'They're weird,'
and stamps on my foot.'
and in 'Harbour Steps' which is a fabulous study of teenagers growing up in a small town, the author's downbeat language wonderfully summons up teenage lust and self consciousness.
'Lilias asks me what I think about Pat Pow.
Is she overdoing the Sandie Shaw lookalike thing?
And I say, 'The haircut is good but she should lay off the bare feet.
They're dirty and she has a verucca. I saw it in the gym and it's green.'
Loss and death are beautifully written about in the second half of the pamphlet and woven through the author's memories of the deaths of her father and mother are observations about changes in the Fife town she grew up in alongside significant objects such as a white basin, a table and an undertaker's hut.
Writing about the people and places closest to us is one of the hardest things to do in poetry and prose. It is very difficult to choose what to write about and what to leave out because there's so much potential subject matter. So I feel that these very personal poems not only work together very well but should also appeal widely. I'm a big fan of Lindy's poems and I'm looking forward to her next collection. In the meantime go out and buy 'Where you start from' and I hope you enjoy these finely crafted poems as much as I do.
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