Tuesday 12 August 2014

POEM CLUB #9: 'Bonfire' by Rachel Piercey

Rachel Piercey
We had some nice comments for 'Night music' last week, so let's have another poem from an Emma Press Pick, our series of short, themed, illustrated pamphlets. This one is from our tentative first publication, The Flower and the Plough, which began my collaboration with Rachel Piercey. As with previous editions of Poem Club, I'll post the poem below along with some of my own thoughts to start things off.

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Bonfire


I have felled
all the trees in my wood
to keep you going,

thrown old faithfuls
and flimsy, startled
saplings into your

hot ears and come-
to-bed mouth.
Then all that was left

was the pointy scent
of gum
and the bellow of an oak.

So I hacked off my hair
with barely
a second thought,

and both ears
were carelessly slung in,
then my thumbs

with their crucial
opposability.
I’ve got my toes lined up

and my unaccountable hips
and my knees
are ready too,

so please
give me more
of your particular brand

of alchemy.
Because when you temper
scraps into treasure

I think it’s worth it,
and when you
spit out glass

though you only got sand
I think it’s worth it.
Because I could

spot you
a mile away
on any frightening night

and when I got there
you’d soften me.
Because I hope

that when I’m down
to just my heart in the open air
you’ll keep it warm.

— by Rachel Piercey, from The Flower and the Plough

* * *

Emma's thoughts. This poem has a very special place in Emma Press history, as it's the first poem by Rachel that I ever read. I had an instant, visceral reaction to it, and was amazed by how she had described exactly that insane leap of faith you can take in a passionate relationship. I love how the wild, raw imagery captures the exhilaration of going all in for a love affair. My favourite bit is 'when you / spit out glass // though you only got sand', because it expressed how a loved one can feel like both a miracle-worker and a miracle in themselves.

Your thoughts. Tom gave a great reading of the poem in the comments below, which I highly recommend reading in full. He was particularly struck by the violence of the poem and concluded: 'I know the fire could be read as creativity or something, but you know a bonfire the next morning is just damp ash. For me it's like the poem says the whole *point* of love is to destroy yourself; and maybe that's actually what we want; what we're trying to do.'

Kristen also had a great response, with a slightly different take to Tom on the escalation throughout the poem: 'This poem has a spectacular longing that I remember from early love affairs, giving it everything I had and then getting creative and trying to be new and interesting just to keep the fire going ('old faithfuls and flimsy') when in the other person was happy to let it die down. Rachel has captured it beautifully, and I can see why it's a favourite.'

In this penultimate week of Poem Club, I'm going to award a book to both Tom and Kristen!

* * *

The Flower and the Plough
What do you think of 'Bonfire'? Is that how falling in love feels to you? What do you think of the forest metaphor? Which is your favourite image? Let me know in the comments section below. All comments will be held for moderation, so don't worry if it doesn't appear immediately after you send it.

<-- POEM CLUB #8: 'Night music' by Kristen Roberts
--> POEM CLUB #10: 'A Love Poem: From Snail to Slug' by Jamie McGarry

3 comments:

  1. A wonderful write. Lovely images and sensations. Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Emma I agree about the visceral reaction. I think it's kind of terrifying, with the metaphors of self-immolation and bodily self-destruction -- hacked-off hair, ears, thumbs... And I think there *is* a terror in love, which this poem recreates, a terror of revealing and giving yourself over to something, to be changed. I love the dropping away of the verse after "Because I hope" -- those words are the incantation to this ritual, but hope falls into a blank space before it's anchored by punctuation or another line. Like all readings this might be my current mood talking, but I think what makes the poem interesting is its attempt to look directly at the self-destructive aspect of love without really trying to redeem that through some other counter-acting positive force. I know the fire could be read as creativity or something, but you know a bonfire the next morning is just damp ash. For me it's like the poem says the whole *point* of love is to destroy yourself; and maybe that's actually what we want; what we're trying to do.

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  3. Kristen Roberts23/08/2014, 23:19

    This poem has a spectacular longing that I remember from early love affairs, giving it everything I had and then getting creative and trying to be new and interesting just to keep the fire going ('old faithfuls and flimsy') when in the other person was happy to let it die down. Rachel has captured it beautifully, and I can see why it's a favourite.

    ReplyDelete