Reminded of something (by Robin Thomas)

Reminded of something (by Robin Thomas. Cinnamon Press, 2023)

These poems explore a wide range of subjects using a variety of forms. Thomas writes tenderly about love and relationships, family, memories, the vacancies left when a beloved is absent, and the author’s own experiences. The fragments of the book feature both simplicity (when describing ordinary life) and depth (the author skilfully forges stories within the poems).

The Day my mother died illustrates is a good example of description (using imagery):

……..an alertness of jay,

a self containment of bees, silver greens….

See also:

I took out a teaspoon and closed the drawer,

closed it clumsily trapping my finger.

Window is an intoxicating poem. Here, Thomas gives us access to a human relationship. How it can be a comfort zone, how it can change, mystify, and disarm. The impact can be felt in poem’s ending:

When I sat down again,

I saw your face was pale.

This collection also touches on creation. The poem The Specification interested me; what happens if an intelligent being is created with free will? Perhaps, Thomas was simply writing about a laboratory construction? See the following extract:

But I’m looking a well for something entirely new – I want to build into its circuitry what I’m going to call a ‘moral framework’, a set of commandments if you like.

This collection is ‘real’. Delightful and softy raw at times.

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Stephen Paul Wren