Deformations includes two large-scale works related in their preoccupation with biographical and mythical narrative. 'Welfare Handbook' explores the life and art of Eric Gill, the well-known English letter cutter, sculptor and cultural figure, who is known to have sexually abused his daughters. The poem draws on material from Gill's letters, diaries, notes and essays as part of a lyrical exploration of the conjunction between aesthetics, subjectivity and violence. 'Pitysad' is a series of simultaneously occurring fragments composed around themes and characters from Homer's Odyssey. It considers how trauma is disguised and deformed through myth and art. Acting as a bridge between these two works is a series of individual poems on the creation and destruction of cultural and mythical conventions.
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There was once a girl and she had a hare as a pet. It was so long and brown and soft. GIRL AND HARE
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(@Carcanet, 30 July 2020, ebook, 87 pages, borrowed from @natpoetrylib via @OverDriveInc)
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I've read and enjoyed other collections by the poet so was looking forward to Deformations. The collection is split into three sections; Welfare Handbook, Headland and Pitysad and each sections explores something different. I struggled the most with Welfare Handbook which explore Eric Gill, a sculptor I'd never heard of who sexually abused his daughters. I just found these poems difficult to get into. I fared better with Headland which contained beautifully written poems. The best section was Pitysad which contains poems built around the Odyssey. I really loved these.
