A Review of Carol Ann Duffy's Collected Poems - paperback edition (Picador UK, 2019) – By Vikki C.

 

A wealth of intuitive and deeply relatable cameos make this volume of collected works a profound language of the subconscious. There's an immediacy to Carol Ann Duffy's work which is both cathartic and instructive. I've bookmarked several poems but lately, a couple speak to my own inner monologue. For the introvert who eschews real company, these poems are a quiet and necessary therapy.

The artist's silent cry is often latent and complex. Duffy's 'Somewhere Someone's Eyes' places us inside this conflict of ego which is unsettling yet strangely assuaged by "like" company. There is a disorientating air of angst and ennui set off with the comfort of a winter's fire, humour and a companion who sees themself in the speaker. The reference to eyes and "seeing" couldn't be more befitting and for these eyes to be ablaze in winter across distance, brings us only closer to the violence of the "flare" and call for rescue. 

'Close' takes its time to divulge a deep truth within the speaker. Again, Duffy deploys the uncanny setting of a lowlit room as site of inquiry into belonging and the secrets we harbour. A confessional series of lines culminate in a deluge where history points back to love as a culprit, in all its grotesque, chimeric beauty. One which "makes a hired room tremble / with the pity of bells, a cigarette smoke itself / next to a full glass of wine." 

For me, there's a fine line between comprehension and the visceral. These poems wield the needle through which that line is threaded. A precise instrument that knows the consummate way past the walls we construct. Startling and intelligent, this collection is taut with the fabric of the psyche—the rent and the undying lustre of human desire. 

Carol Ann Duffy’s Collected Poems - paperback edition is published by Picador UK and is available on Amazon.