A Review of Rachel Deering’s In The Shadow of Gods (Black Bough Poetry, 2024) – by Vikki C.
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In the Shadow of Gods, the recently released poetry collection by Bath-based, Pushcart Prize nominated writer Rachel Deering, is a poignant exploration of human experience, observed through a lens of myth and delicate ecologies.
Through its rich interweaving of imagery, reminiscence and fragments of deep time, Deering’s sophisticated and sensorial poetics examine the human condition via the natural world and its ineffable stories of survival, death and rebirth. Stories which transcend not only the four seasons, but also the “subliminal seasons” of our interstitial lives.
Like a tome open to the wilderness, we traverse a shifting narrative of five distinct tableaux which blend seamlessly to speak through the god-like presence of trees, birds, fish and other creatures of Deering’s enchanting and philosophically nuanced landscape.
Senses attuned, we immerse in natural microcosms often overlooked in our daily movements such as detailed observations of decay and growth which extend to our humanscapes — our losses, our fears as well as the magic of healing and reclamation. From the outset of the journey, the poem “Oak” illustrates these “eco-human” parallels:
For the oak, there is no remedy
for humanity; every tree speaks its history
from creation myth to the fall
of an arboreal empire
(...)
between wind and leaf
before the amber losses
of November and the long promise
entrusted to each acorn [30].
As these fragile activities hum within the reader’s subconscious, the poet also draws on folklore and allegory to reimagine the concepts of human identity and relationships. “The Tale of the Six Swans'' after the Brothers Grimm tale The Six Swans, explores such dynamics:
I didn’t speak or laugh
for six years, each an exchange
of muteness for a swan,
the words stolen from my mouth [40].
The poem, like many in this collection, keeps the reader emotionally centred around its concerns. In this case, the female speaker relays feelings of oppression derived from a marriage or domestic relationship and perhaps, even society at large.
There is a keen sense of embodiment. A voice which through deft metaphor, projects lived experiences – confessing pain and signalling a difficult but pronounced move towards healing:
“I eat my children/I become the source of my own salvation/ until there is light and restoration.”
A motif which replicates nature’s cycles of decline and regrowth, particularly those hidden in a forest’s understory.
Through these subtle juxtapositions of darkness and light, Deering paints life’s vagaries and uncertainties with earnesty and memorable aesthetics:
No kingfisher ever promised
a single halcyon day,
nor nested on fish bones to still
an ocean. Instead, she threads light
into the darkness of a riverbank,
buries her ivory-shelled tomorrows,
where feverish hopes may take flight
from the compaction of wintered griefs [62-63].
As the poet leads us through the rich foliage of observation, there is a marked sense of spiritual edification, of reacquaintance with beings and places that shape our personal histories.
Between the teeming lyricism of these seasons, Deering’s visionary verses also allow us intrinsic spaces to pause and reflect. As if reaching a forest clearing where a lone tree stands, certain pages are left minimalistic, containing only a single line – in one case, a meditative line split over two pages which acts almost like a regrouping of soul and body: “whilst light and dark dream in seasons...One bruised soul may heal another’s” [73-74].
In this example, the poet gathers us into a place of duality, suggesting that despite the isolation humans endure, we are never truly alone but connected in spirit – a continued metamorphosis and evolution of the metaphysical towards visions of hope. A hope which Deering goes on to depict as being both beautiful and brutal in construct as demonstrated in “Bluebells”:
Bluebells are so fleeting –
a river cut through shade
that runs dry
before the end of May.
(...)
I hope, I hope, I hope.
Hope has tested
the nerve endings of my solitude
to the ache of doubt [82].
There is however a remarkable sense of salvation as we journey through the last few poems: the seasons which inevitably must come to an end, seem to dovetail into an otherness.
One that leaves us sheltered and healing amid the gentle soundscape of “watermagic”, “asking once more, for our mothers, for our gods, for who we used to be for each other” [104].
Moreover, the mysteries deepen long after the book’s ending, in a short series of supplementary poems: Words found in a hidden nook... Here, the final poem “Fenrir'' is a piece inspired by the Norse god of the same name. A god who was associated with prophecies of end days and the world’s ultimate destruction during a series of natural disasters known as Ragnarök. These events were also rooted in the idea that once destroyed, the world would be reborn at peace. The last lines of “Fenrir” in this collection aptly inquire: “when every bond may be broken/what will become of us then?”
A notion which perhaps, only an astute existential poet may contemplate. A poet who applies the intricacies of legend and storytelling to our present human condition and ecologies with intuition, linguistic pyrotechnics and a deep knowledge and hunger for the universal beauty that connects us beyond our temporal realm.
As a result, In the Shadow of Gods is an astounding, imagistic and philosophical collection by a poet working at the highest level of artistic regard and sensitivity. An essential collection for individuals seeking revelation through unique and unparalleled perspectives. One that offers a timeless and unequivocally resonant presentation of the great human paradox.
For more details about In the Shadow of Gods, visit Black Bough Poetry’s website:
https://www.blackboughpoetry.com/rachel-deering