Totem: Poems

by Luke Davies

An exquisite collection of physical, sensual poems which confirms Davies' reputation as one of Australia's foremost contemproary poets.

An ecstatic hymn to love and life, grandly dense, hallucinatory in its intensity, 'Totem Poem' glows like a sun at the heart of this book; the diamond-edged '40 love poems', exquisite lyrics of romance, passion and intimacy, circle it like satellites.

In this new collection Davies has created an extraordinarily moving and beautiful poetic universe, at once richly physical and uncompromisingly metaphysical.

Genres: Poetry

85 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Luke Davies is an Australian writer of novels and poetry. He has published two novels, Isabelle the Navigator and the cult bestseller Candy, which was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards in 1998. A film version of Candy, starring Heath Ledger, was released in 2006 and won the AFI for Best Adapted Screenplay. His novel God of Speed, about the life of Howard Hughes, is due for release in April 2008.
Information / http://www.hlamgt.com.au/
Davies has published five books of poetry, including Running With Light, which was the winner of the Judith Wright Poetry Prize 2000, and Totem, which won the 2004 Age Book of the Year Award. He was also awarded the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal for Poetry in 2004. He has completed several residencies around the world, including at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre for the Arts, Ireland, The Australia Centre, Chiang Mai, Thailand, the Centre d'Art

Reviews

[Ericstiens · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Note: I haven't actually read this book, just the epic poem at its center and most of the smaller satellite poems surrounding it. It seems to be out of print, and the only copies I have found on the internet go for over $100. Nevertheless, you can find a copy of most of the poems in it on the internet (as text and as audio recordings). Not the most satisfying way to read poetry, but...]

This is probably the most astonishing poem I have read in at least a year, if not more.

You would expect a poem that runs over 5,000 words to be a bit self-indulgent, overwhelming in a bad way, so many images that all become a bit muddled. But Totem (and it's satellite poems, 40 of them, that weave in and out through many of the same images and the central love story that is the beating heart of the main poem) has the reverse effect.

Time stretches out, twists back in on itself. Word repetition pushes one into an almost dream-like state. Variations on a theme. Erotic images almost hallucinatory in their intensity. This is the stuff - particle physics, the origin of the universe, the meaning of life and love and death - that either fails miserably or becomes transcendent. Here, it is transcendent. A simple boy-meets-girl love story, complete with voyueristic details of making out on the hood of a car, having sex in the woods, leaving each other at the airport, expands to include the entire Cosmos. It is the World as Love, Light as the medium of that love, the world being a never-ending continual act of loving creation.....gravity that controls the tides, brings lovers together, draws planets into orbits around skies.

Strong and powerful. A masterwork. 10 readings and new connections, new allusions, new through lines still emerge.

Davies may make a strong case for accepting life-as-it-is, to find the eternal in those brief intense moments of unbearable beauty

Oh my most girl of light who, astonished, accepts:
the curve of all around us pulled us here &
everything rode on stretching space. To grasp the eternal
and the ravenously brief we had to learn
to begin to come to terms with imperfection

but this poem is near perfect.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Musical. Lush. Chaotic. Forceful. Luke Davies is a trip, reminds me of an adolescent & unguarded Neruda.

[Lauren G · Rating 5 out of 5]

i have actually only read 'totem,' which is a stunning, brilliant, touching contemporary poem which echoes 'song of songs' of the old testament in new, refreshing, modern way. this book is hard to get a hold of on these shores but i'm working on it. anyone know where i could get a copy let me know. if you google 'totem' and luke davies you can usually find an online version of 'totem.' highly recommend doing it. it just might change your life.

[Kerran Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is so much contained in Totem and in the other poems in this collection that they are quite overwhelming and chaotic at times, but as a slow read they really worked for me. I needed a bit of time to appreciate what was going on in some of the pieces, but I loved the recurring nature imagery, and I found the whole collection very languid and sensual. I would love to find a physical copy of this book, as I think it would be one that you'd get more out of with each read.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best poetry book I've ever read, in my entire life.

[Alina · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Haven't read the whole collection, but "Totem Poem" has me convinced that I will like the rest as much. It is phenomenal. More comments to come when I'm done with it. Perhaps.]

[Amber Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luke Davies use of words are the most exquisite and soul stirring I've ever had the privilege of reading. His poems are so beautiful I constantly find myself lingering over each one. I highly recommend spending some quiet moments taking in this book.

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to write a review of this collection because it remains the most pivotal poetry work I have ever read. Totem is lyrical, epic, and transcendant. I have reread it countless times and am almost always moved to tears. Davies is the poet of a generation and this work feels so personal and devotional.

“I will meet you on the nape of your neck one day,
on the surface of intention, word becoming act.
We will breathe into each other the high mountain tales,
where the snows come from, where the waters begin.”