For Reasons Unknown - poems by Nigel Humphreys

Poets should strive for universal applicability - covering themes that resonate with everyone; such is the received wisdom passed on by poetry teachers.

"It's easy to be difficult," said John Betjeman, riposting T.S. Eliot, who suggested that poetry should aim to be difficult. Nigel Humphreys' voice is neither deliberately obscurantist nor is it simple, but it is authentic, and it resonates fully with me. Several threads that run through his fourth volume of poetry, For Reasons Unknown (styled for reasons unknown), published in the Parhelion series imprint from the Arbor Vitae press, which chime with themes I've covered in my blog. These include the role of consciousness in the universe, the reality of the sub-atomic level, Proustian memory, spirit of place, and the eternal. Because Nigel Humphreys' world view is so congruent with mine, I find his poetry elevating and replete with insight.

The marvellous prose-poem Brock - that forms the backbone of the book, speaks of a detached consciousness moving across the face of our planet, an aware observer that never interferes, eyes without a face, born of this world, observing it, yet not engaging with it. Brock, "an individual without home, creed, philosophy or agenda, who through his wanderings, permeates existence and, by doing so, becomes a disinterested observer of what it is to exist," says the author's note. Brock, strung out across 48 parts, becomes a framework to which a further 48 poems are attached, each one thematically linked to the preceding fragment of Brock. This structure suggests a vastly more planned tome of poetry than the usual compendium of loosely-edited poems; assembled thus, the book acquires a narrative tone; the reader is drawn into Brock's world.

Humphreys'/Brock's place in space and time is early 21st century Aberystwyth, a Welsh seaside town reminiscent of the Pwllheli that I've visited so often. I compare the two on Google Maps Street View and am struck by the architectural similarity and their geography. A town built around a mediaeval castle, with Victorian and post-war buildings, car parks and superstores, hospital and charity shops. Brock's world is the Town Surrounded By Country, in the country, fenced and gated hills, horses and sheep on green fields over which circle the hawk, the kite and the eagle; the Town is By The Sea where the eternal natural struggle takes on aquatic form. Intermediate, the coastline, with "the tang of bladder wrack..." words that summon earliest childhood memories of seaside summers on the cold coasts of Britain.

The physical construct of the universe, made of atoms, living in a fragment of the Infinite and Eternal, seeing just that - above the supermarket trolleys, digital signs, mobility scooters, laptops, t-shirts, kiosks and scaffolding yet acutely aware that there is more, far more than "the white water of consumerism", above which Brock manages to hold his head.

Atoms, time, energy, matter, consciousness; the stuff from which the universe is woven. Nigel Humphreys is a poet of our quantum age, accepting the mysteries of the subatomic world and the structure of the gene, "as ruthless as ever, keeping its host body alive for reasons unknown" - I sense towards the end of the book what these reasons are - the evolutionary path of Consciousness, from being aware of Nothing, to being aware of All. Our eyes will experience but a snippet of the journey.

This is a book that elevates one from everyday duties, from automatic action, and invites the reader to gaze again and reflect with a higher consciousness upon that which surrounds us all, and place that into the context of infinite wonder, "time beyond time", "the universal will".

Having read all three volumes of Bevis Hillier's biography of John Betjeman, I have come to appreciated the importance of the long-term relationship between poet and publisher. In the case of Betjeman, it was Jock Murray, fifth-generation scion of publishing family John Murray. In the case of Nigel Humphreys, it is Jonathan Wood, founder of the Arbor Vitae Press, who has also published Humphrey's three previous collections of poetry, The Hawk's Mewl (2007), Flavour of Parallel (2010) and Of Moment (2013). I look forward to more.

This time last year:
Koszyki

This time two years ago year:
It's just an Ilyushin (central Warsaw's plane-restaurant)

This time four years ago:
Marathon stroll (31.5km) along the Vistula 

This time five years ago:
Complaining about the lack of a river crossing between Siekierki and Góra Kalwaria! 

This time six years ago:
S2 update (nearly ready)

This time seven years ago:
Progress on S2 bypass - photos from the air

This time nine years ago:
Up Śnieżnica

This time 12 years ago:
July continues glum (2007 - a rainy summer)