Last week in class for my tangible item, I brought in a scissor. I felt that this item represented the tension throughout David Herd’s collection of poems in Through.
Herd touches up upon various topics in Through such as politics, intimacy, tension, and human language itself. I found this collection of poems to be rather gripping because it demanded to be read. Each and every word used had a purpose and told it’s story well. There was a heavy attribute of focus which lead to the reader listening to all the concepts this collection had to offer. The poems were all written in free verse which gave them the feel of being light weight, organic, and truthful. This collection is modern and thought provoking. Although this collection feels unforced, there is this tension between the reader and the poems because it forces its reader to engage within the poems on the page. The poems call on you to look harder at the world, whilst also saying that your view is only ever occluded.
“The poems call on you to look harder at the world, whilst also saying that your view is only ever occluded.”
For quite a few of the poems (mainly in the “Syntax”) section, I found myself having to work at understanding the structure of lines and stanzas as much of the punctuation and other hints are left out. The syntax of the poems became the main place to look for answers as I read the poems, but was also one of my biggest challenges to decipher. I think that’s at least part of the tension you’re identifying. Syntax, in the vacuum of these poems, becomes so much a product of personal interpretation clouded but also illuminated by our personal bias and experiences. I doubt any two people could read any single poem in that section the same way. Whether that’s tension between people that can be cut by your scissors or something that holds people together like a taught rope is, perhaps appropriately, up for debate.