Review: Clouds like dust and other poems*UPDATED

A new volume of verse from Nathan Slake

Photo by Mariana Dal Chico on Unsplash

Poetry lovers will recall the impact Slake' s first book made. "Tied up in Notts" was, at the time, not merely avant-garde but positively risque. The reason, of course, was Slake's cavalier approach to poetic conventions. For example, his 15 Line Sonnet caused a massive rift in the arts community. While some hailed it as a" hurricane of fresh air", to quote one well-known critic, others were less enthusiastic. Indeed, the President of the New Poets Convention¹ declared that if God had wanted sonnets to have an extra line he would have put it there in the first place.

Slake's second volume, Airborne to Melbourne, was in some respects even more divisive. Its inclusion of many different forms of poetry, such as sonnets, sestinas and villanelles led some to dismiss it, in the words of the New Verse Review², as:

"a mishmash, an unholy mess, the less said about which the better.".

My own view was that it was a bold experiment that had resulted in an unfortunate juxtaposition of competing styles.

His third volume, Backing Out of the Outback was in effect a paean to that landscape. It consisted of seventeen poems of blank verse which, in Slake’s rendering, meant completely blank. Here, for example, is the poem, Nature:

Nature, by Nathan Slake

This, too, met with a mixed reception. While some hailed it as “the ultimate in concrete poetry”, others wondered aloud if Slake was poking fun at the creative arts community. All Slake would say when asked about it was:

If you don’t dig it you don’t get it.

This response was, unsurprisingly, not greeted with universal acclaim.

Undeterred, Slake has now published his fourth volume, Clouds like Dust and other Poems. Adopting the style of Robert Browning's dramatic monologues, Slake's poems are written in the persona of The Bard, an intergalactic traveller who has the disconcerting habit of falling in love on every planet he visits. While perhaps unpromising as a premise, this has given rise to some quite startling verse. I especially liked Ganymede Gears, which includes the line:

I would turn back time for you,

But the clock is already running slow

While this latest volume will not appeal to everyone, nobody can deny that it is a bold attempt to push the poetic boundaries even further. With Clouds like Dust, Slake continues to surprise, delight and, yes, divide us.

To follow Slake’s work on Substack, you can subscribe to his newsletter here: Slake

Afterword

I hope you enjoyed reading this review. Before you rush out to buy Nathan’s latest book of poetry, I am obliged by my conscience to inform you that none of the books I’ve mentioned, or the references, exist. This is part of a collaboration between Nathan and myself by which we each review a work by the other, to which the reviewee responds by actually writing the work, or part of it.

Nathan kicked us off with his review of my (nonexistent) book, and I responded in due course. Now we have swapped over. Do subscribe to Nathan’s newsletter to make sure you don’t miss his reply.

Update

Nathan has responded to this challenge here:

The Bard

1. Names of organisations and periodicals have been changed.

2. See footnote 1.