Conjuring Marble into Cloud
BREATHE
Helen's lovely poems in 'Breathe' brought a sense of peace from the first poem I read, 'Through the window' - 'The earth breathes its morning mist' - a perfect description of days I've woken up to, especially in autumn. She writes without wasting a word, drawing you back to re-read and take in each nuance.
A collection that goes beyond a love of nature to an exploration of our intimate place in it
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I purchased Helen Laycock's previous collection, "Frame," not long ago and was very impressed with it. This new collection has similarities and differences: both are highly lyrical with an emphasis on inventive and very original use of language; in both, nature plays a major thematic role. "Frame," however, focuses on personal conflict, adversity, and resilience; "Breathe" signals a closer union with the natural world, not centered on its interaction with and reflection on ourselves, but on the bond and kinship we all have with it. As Ms. Laycock puts it, in a lovely and resonant phrase, the book is a "reflection on some of the gifts and realities that co-exist with us during our fleeting communion on, and with, this planet." Communion is exactly the right word for this collection: the poems are not only lyrical, but Impressionistic. And like the Impressionists paintings, they transport the viewer not to an understanding of the natural world, but a sensory and emotional participation with it. This is no time for questions and answers. Here we are in a transcendental sphere. This is poetry as experience. One last point about this collection: read it aloud. Read it to someone or to yourself, but the musicality and beauty of the language is best realized when heard, not read. Very highly recommended.
As a haiku poet, I really enjoyed the descriptions in this book by Helen Laycock. I found it inspirational. Just look at this description of a kingfisher in the poem of the same name:
In iridescent ellipses,
made of mermaids' tails
and sequined scales
he is a shimmer
of cupped sunshine.
Beautiful!
A poetic dance through nature
Laycock's use of language is exceptional in this poetry book, the theme throughout is nature and the natural world. Simply beautiful word paintings dance for eyes. I strongly recommend this to poet lovers who love writing about nature & to anybody else that wants to read richly textured lines of beauty.
Taking elements from free verse, meter, innovative formats, stunning imagery, and wordplay, Helen Laycock's "Breathe" stimulates and delights the senses. We journey through the world of animals, the sea, clouds, storms, and finally the planet itself through themed poems, and profound quotes. Powerful verse abounds, with too many favorites to list. To sample a few from this exquisite collection:
From "The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory":
"Awash, I watch you flounder in my irony.
I send my sluice to bellow through your bolt holes:
rude and brown, a speaker out of turn—
insidious whispers, gulps and raucous roars.
It latches, shoves and defecates its swill."
From "Balm":
"A slather of sunbeams
will lick limbs
warm as butter,
a halo of hair
frame a summer face."
From "Pines":
"all crimson heat
has blued,
white skin has crept
with cracks."
And from "Anthropogenic Addiction":
"She coughs out ash
shaped like forests, life, hope—
and it sticks to everything."
In this collection Helen Laycock shares with us her gift with words. The poems reflect a real affinity with nature and understanding of the natural world. Filled with stunning imagery, from the moth
'clapping your demise as you pole-dance around the flame' to bats who
'splay like sky divers, limbs akimbo under the tenderized translucence of tissue skin' and
'a flamboyance of flamingos .. blushing lilies',
there is a rich variety of intricate and original observations on every page. The poems at the end of the collection move on to what man is doing to the world of nature and in the concluding poem "To the Unborn', we are reminded of what has already been destroyed:
'Sorry is not enough of an apology for what you
are about to receive
upon your birth – a broken earth
whose bones we have picked and whose flesh
we have stripped
We bequeath you: the carcass'.
Wonderful. Highly recommended
Helen Laycock is a poet I greatly admire so I was excited to read my copy of Breathe when it arrived in the post and I wasn’t disappointed. Her poems are full of vivid imagery with inventive metaphor and glorious phrasing.
She reeled me in from the first page with ‘Dragonfly’
of polished seaglass
``wings silver-strutted veils…
And these lines from the poem ‘Rosy’ on Page 82 particularly enticed me.
A pink flamingo sunset
billows its blushes
and parades explosions
of rosy ink…
I highly recommend Breathe and all of Laycock’s poetry books.
Helen Laycock is a fantastic writer! The book was poignant, and interesting. I love poetry books written in a narrative style, I’d highly recommend it.
The front cover is also simple yet really beautiful. I’d love to read more of her work in the near future.