Every Little Sound

by Ruby Robinson

Drawing from neuroscience on the idea of 'internal gain', an internal volume control which helps us amplify and focus on quiet sounds in times of threat, danger or intense concentration, Ruby Robinson's brilliant debut introduces a poet whose work is governed by a scrupulous attention to the detail of the contemporary world. Moving and original, her poems invite us to listen carefully, and use ideas of hearing and listening to explore the legacies of trauma. The book celebrates the separateness and connectedness of human experience in relationships, and our capacity to harm and love.

Genres: Poetry

50 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Ruby Robinson studied English literature at the University of East Anglia and is a graduate of the Sheffield Hallam University Writing MA.

Reviews

[yenni m · Rating 5 out of 5]

'I'm sorry the concept of promise outgrew the concept of child...'

I never read poetry but this was tied to neuroscience and had a certain attention to detail that I always appreciate but don't often encounter. Sad, happy, funny, difficult.

I rarely read something that I think good enough to add to my shrinking collection, there's an unexpected place for Robinson.

[Owen Townend · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is written by a fellow alumnus of Sheffield Hallam University and certainly put me in mind of the rich poetry community there.

Every Little Sound, like most short poetry collections I've picked up, is filled with thought-provoking and subtly emotive verse that requires re-reading and performance. It tackles classic themes, such as difficult family relationships, romance turned stale and what it means to be a woman.

There was a definite focus on anatomy in the first few poems (quite a few instances of one's head separating from the rest of the body) and a notable fondness for the verb 'swathe'. Some verses went over my head and I found that others took a disconcerting turn in the last few stanzas, including sexual aggression and freezing bodies. This gave me some context whiplash though I suppose there was an element of intention here.

I'm not the most informed reader of poetry but I did enjoy a couple of poems in this book, albeit the ones with tighter stanzas with more cohesive meaning between them. However, I'm afraid the prose poems and 'stories' failed to appeal at all, but then I do prefer a little plot when it comes to vignettes.

Regardless I enjoyed Every Little Sound and heartily congratulate Robinson. I recommend Every Little Sound to poetry enthusiasts prone to repeat readings.

Notable Poems

• This Night – a superbly simple expression of how you feel after an argument with a loved one.

• Orgasm – a very short verse capturing one incidental aspect of extreme pleasure.

• Tuning Fork – a pared-back verse with some musical word usage that really resonates.

[Juliano · Rating 4 out of 5]

“You’ll read me in spite of me. I’m the poem // you wish had remained unwritten / as well as wishing you’d written.” Ruby Robinson’s Every Little Sound is a gorgeous + powerful poetry collection, concerned with the stories we tell and how/why we tell them — the framing, the voice — and the means, the noises formed on the page and in the mouth, accruing, making narrative. In ‘Story’, a rhapsodic yet quotidian prose poem, its sounds and narrative swoop paint a vivid aural topography. “A bird was echoing its cry off the surface of some water. It became quieter and quieter.” This is nothing in the grand scheme of things, a second of vibrations amidst a sprawling soundscape. As much as Robinson allows sounds to speak for themselves, her wider project is concerned with neuroscience, the idea of “internal gain” — modulating interior volume in times of crisis to magnify quiet sounds, protecting us from threat, or even bringing us peace. “One ear on the Conversation downstairs / the other catching / echoes of planets slowly creaking / in their dark celestial closets, // a leopard was upon me warmly on my bed, / breathing as any human would.” I loved ‘Apology’, its too-potent manifestation of grief and regret, and also ‘Flashback’, an unbelievable meditation on trauma — several poems concerned with the past: chequered, uncertain, troubled and traumatic. And there’s the final poem, ‘To My Family’, reverberative, declarative, definitive.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know how to read poetry and just go by whether the collection overall makes me feel feelings. The most evocative line, for me, from this collection is from a poem called Romance: "A spaniel was ecstatic / in the sea spray, following its lolloping tongue."

[Frankie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5