Carbon (Elisabeth Kelly)
I loved this book published by Hedgehog Poetry Press in January of this year. The author touches on important topics such as family and the natural world. Love is touched on too. On my first reading, some of the poems appeared quite simple but then, on my second and third readings, the poems resonated with me in a beautiful way.
Elisabeth writes:
We huddle together
held by such a
force
in this small
nucleus
Negativity
orbits
by
One section is called THE ORBITALS and we are treated with these words:
A space where electrons, negatively charged particles, dwell.
In my scientific career, the study of atomic structure and electrons has always been vital (we are carbon-based lifeforms after all). So, I was thrilled to see this layering in the book. Atoms are a little like this book’s poems because, on the surface, we can describe their structure quite simply. They have a nucleus and electrons spinning round in outer shells. But the reality is far more complex, and many more sub-atomic particles can be found when you dig deeper.
Here are two of the many poems in Carbon that spoke to me:
LITTLE WHITE BOATS
Rain that tastes of grass is falling,
fading away a ticket lost in the
mud outside my door.
Murky streams tug at frayed edges,
smiling away pieces like tiny
child-made boats down the garden.
I remember you in this flavoured rain,
a giant in this meandering world of tiny becks,
your dinosaur clad feet creating ravines,
as oxbow lakes form around you,
your laugh vibrating across the hills.
My memories flow with the little while boats,
floating away down the garden
washed by the summer rain.
MEMORY
My memories are like fish,
large glinting salmon casting
beautiful shimmers of
excitement through water.
Only ever glimpsed,
in quietening rivers,
where they flit and slip
from my inexpert hands.
But I was told once,
that salmon return,
years later to their birth river,
break the surface entirely
glimmering with hope,
as they leap home.
Can you see what I mean?
Thank you, Elisabeth, for your sharing your words. Thank you for making me reflect on my own writing. I will not be the only person!
I look forward to your next book.
--
Stephen Paul Wren (March 2022)