Saskia Hamilton’s Corridor* was one of this year’s more challenging reads for me. Ms. Hamilton’s poems carefully shaped and almost spare in style, but their content is so dense that I’d often read a poem three or four times before I felt I was beginning to understand it. This isn’t a criticism, necessarily; I read poetry in part because I like to be asked to use the mental flexibility and creativity at my disposal. Ms. Hamilton’s poems require quite a bit of both.
Corridor‘s poems are observant, almost painterly. Ms. Hamilton offers us carefully-described scenes in nature and in rooms, but the effect of her lines is to make us feel as if we’re definitely in a place, but not of it; we are passing through. This emphasis on transience applies not only to places, but also to objects and books (there’s a wonderful poem that refers to Milton’s Satan in Paradise Lost). Throughout the collection, I found the interplay of intimacy and dispassionate interest fascinating.
If you’d like to sample one of Ms. Hamilton’s poems, you can read “In the Corridor” here. Corridor is a collection that rewards the effort required to read it, and I’m pleased to recommend it.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes, which did not affect the content of my review.
Love the section beginning “matrices…” Nice to read first, then listen to her voice reading. Lovely!
Glad you liked it!
I think there’s a lot of longing and the questioning of missed opportunity in this poem. It seems bleak to me in a familiar way. A great September poem. Thanks for sharing.
You’re most welcome!
I see what you mean!
A bit tricky, yes?
Exactly.