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casparb's review
There's a kind of cavity in the corpus of Poetry of Mourning which is the dementia-poem. Nobody has a great time in here but it's very present & I think this is a lovely piece in the canon - which is then interrupted by Actual Mourning if we can say so much -- dementia-poem as pre-mourning or mourning the present-tense event.
Excellent title poem.
A trace of violet on the tongue.
So delicate a recognition of true nature
as unclear and soluble and free.
Heaven is loved ones rising
out of the sun and walking with me
into the sea.
Excellent title poem.
A trace of violet on the tongue.
So delicate a recognition of true nature
as unclear and soluble and free.
Heaven is loved ones rising
out of the sun and walking with me
into the sea.
william63's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.75
A lovely collection of poems about the decline of the author’s father to death with Alzheimer’s followed by a reflection of grief and time (the great healer).
annaonthepage's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Dementia
milesjmoran's review
3.0
I read this collection three times over the last week to cement and confirm my thoughts on this book. The poems (particularly those of the first half) are so personal it feels in poor taste to even critique it, positively or negatively. Greenlaw illustrates her father’s dementia, and captures a fading quality in her poems. Most are very brief, and I couldn’t detect whether they were told in a linear sequence or dabbled in a strange in-between stage that felt timeless and endless simultaneously, which I think summarises illnesses like dementia perfectly. There were some truly beautiful moments in this collection that moved me to tears but I wasn’t blown away by it. This book feels like something Greenlaw needed to write to comprehend her grief and make sense of it, which doesn’t necessarily make it a great read. I liked a lot of the poems but I loved few of them.
He is saying: I am unclosed, I am going up in smoke,
I am freezing over.
I tell him I am saving him as quickly as I can.
He is saying: I am unclosed, I am going up in smoke,
I am freezing over.
I tell him I am saving him as quickly as I can.
redheadreading's review
3.0
The first half of these that are focused on her father's dementia are incredibly raw and emotional, plus they feed into each other in a way that feels very cohesive. Whilst the latter half has less cohesion, it had more poems I could connect to personally. My favourites were Yellow, Lichen and Men I Have Heard In The Night.
danaishpastry's review
4.0
A moving collection about Greenlaw’s father’s dementia and the grief that follows after a loved one’s death.
The first part is so personal that it feels intrusive somehow to discuss it for too long. It was beautiful, put simply. There was a timeless sense to it which mirrored her father’s own understanding of the world, and the anticipation of his “leaving” is painfully sad.
The second part, while not quite as solid as the first, is still phenomenal. It has an almost metaphysical feel to it, and her grief resounds through it all.
My personal favourites are “My father’s loss of feeling”, “The break”, “Flowers for G.T.”, “The built moment” and “Men I have heard in the night.”
Overall, this was a beautiful collection. While most of my favourite poems come from the second half, the first half works much more strongly as a group of poems telling a story.
The first part is so personal that it feels intrusive somehow to discuss it for too long. It was beautiful, put simply. There was a timeless sense to it which mirrored her father’s own understanding of the world, and the anticipation of his “leaving” is painfully sad.
The second part, while not quite as solid as the first, is still phenomenal. It has an almost metaphysical feel to it, and her grief resounds through it all.
My personal favourites are “My father’s loss of feeling”, “The break”, “Flowers for G.T.”, “The built moment” and “Men I have heard in the night.”
Overall, this was a beautiful collection. While most of my favourite poems come from the second half, the first half works much more strongly as a group of poems telling a story.
jaymoran's review
3.0
I read this collection three times over the last week to cement and confirm my thoughts on this book. The poems (particularly those of the first half) are so personal it feels in poor taste to even critique it, positively or negatively. Greenlaw illustrates her father’s dementia, and captures a fading quality in her poems. Most are very brief, and I couldn’t detect whether they were told in a linear sequence or dabbled in a strange in-between stage that felt timeless and endless simultaneously, which I think summarises illnesses like dementia perfectly. There were some truly beautiful moments in this collection that moved me to tears but I wasn’t blown away by it. This book feels like something Greenlaw needed to write to comprehend her grief and make sense of it, which doesn’t necessarily make it a great read. I liked a lot of the poems but I loved few of them.
He is saying: I am unclosed, I am going up in smoke,
I am freezing over.
I tell him I am saving him as quickly as I can.
He is saying: I am unclosed, I am going up in smoke,
I am freezing over.
I tell him I am saving him as quickly as I can.
balancinghistorybooks's review
4.0
The poems about Greenlaw’s father and his dementia were beautiful and stark, filled with such vivid imagery. Some of the later poems, about varied subjects, did not appeal to me as much.
danaelizabeth's review
4.0
A moving collection about Greenlaw’s father’s dementia and the grief that follows after a loved one’s death.
The first part is so personal that it feels intrusive somehow to discuss it for too long. It was beautiful, put simply. There was a timeless sense to it which mirrored her father’s own understanding of the world, and the anticipation of his “leaving” is painfully sad.
The second part, while not quite as solid as the first, is still phenomenal. It has an almost metaphysical feel to it, and her grief resounds through it all.
My personal favourites are “My father’s loss of feeling”, “The break”, “Flowers for G.T.”, “The built moment” and “Men I have heard in the night.”
Overall, this was a beautiful collection. While most of my favourite poems come from the second half, the first half works much more strongly as a group of poems telling a story.
The first part is so personal that it feels intrusive somehow to discuss it for too long. It was beautiful, put simply. There was a timeless sense to it which mirrored her father’s own understanding of the world, and the anticipation of his “leaving” is painfully sad.
The second part, while not quite as solid as the first, is still phenomenal. It has an almost metaphysical feel to it, and her grief resounds through it all.
My personal favourites are “My father’s loss of feeling”, “The break”, “Flowers for G.T.”, “The built moment” and “Men I have heard in the night.”
Overall, this was a beautiful collection. While most of my favourite poems come from the second half, the first half works much more strongly as a group of poems telling a story.
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