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Temporary Stasis
In this remarkable debut pamphlet, Lucy Holme considers the personal and political, the intimate and universal, the meditative and mythic. Temporary Stasis is testament to Holme's remarkable ability to balance, in the space of a single page, the intimate and the epic. This is a collection that will delight and impress, encourage and challenge, and should be the envy of every writer. These poems are magnificent in execution, with a deftness of language and sensibility that marks Holme's work as masterfully crafted and wholly original.
46 pages, Paperback
Published August 31, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 20, 2022
It is not often that I am moved to tears when reading poetry. Don't get me wrong, I adore poetry and read a lot of it, but it is precisely the volume of poetry I consume that makes it an unlikely probability that I will be moved deeply. Lucy Holme has done this with Temporary Stasis. In particular, her poem 'Wilderness' opens up a gorge of emotion in me, a fracturing of my reality as I empathise with the immense pain and fear of the speaker. It was these lines that got me: 'I would beg doctors to slice me open, / to take her out, rather / than I go on without her.' These lines echo through the remaining pages, showing how a will to live and a will for others to live can be presented: as an urge for adventure, sex, empathy, love, kinship, hope, and more.
Lucy Holme is a fantastic writer, and a fierce streak of feminism runs through her poetry. She is a contemporary poet to keep an eye on, as I'm sure more brilliance will come!
Lucy Holme is a fantastic writer, and a fierce streak of feminism runs through her poetry. She is a contemporary poet to keep an eye on, as I'm sure more brilliance will come!
October 14, 2022
It's a real joy to find yourself transported directly into unfamiliar scenes in poetry collections, and this brief book captivated me from start to finish, so vivid is the imagery of the life-on-the-high-seas that the poet has conjured.
Since I read this book a few weeks ago, this image in particular has stayed stuck in my head: 'Violet clouds / like mackerel scales scattered on glass, / suspended over blinking white-capped waves.’ And it's an exciting thing to be exposed to a unique situation - I've never been on a yacht or cruise ship or anything like that, but after reading Temporary Stasis, I feel as if I have. Poems like ‘Cities from the Sea’ for example place the reader right there amongst the beaches, jetties, winding streets. And in poems like the fabulous 'Secret Closet', the speaker forces the reader to become full voyeur, and it's impossible to look away.
There's an underlying feeling of uneasiness regarding disparate levels of privilege between the staff and the passengers, as well as gender imbalances, and I appreciated the feminist slant of this work in addressing these gulfs. The poet also does really well to create a sense of shifting tides, both geographical, temporal and emotional.
I really enjoyed the erasure poems formed from sections of the book ‘Hundreds of Things a Girl Can Make’ (Holme's got a real talent for erasure, picking just the right words and arranging them for maximum impact) and I love the feeling of growth that runs through this pamphlet - as well as physical and personal growth in a broad sense, plus geographical distance, you witness the speaker(s) private growing-up in more abstract ways (often forced because of the actions of men, but growing in spite of them, or even *to* spite them).
And I have to mention my absolute favourite poem 'Working Titles for this Poem Include…' - it's so clever, I had to read it twice, then once more again. This pamphlet was a wonderful, transportive meditation on a past life, evoking feelings of complicated nostalgia, loss, loneliness, and longing. Holme's writing is so beautiful, it's impossible not to be swept along by the waves she creates.
Since I read this book a few weeks ago, this image in particular has stayed stuck in my head: 'Violet clouds / like mackerel scales scattered on glass, / suspended over blinking white-capped waves.’ And it's an exciting thing to be exposed to a unique situation - I've never been on a yacht or cruise ship or anything like that, but after reading Temporary Stasis, I feel as if I have. Poems like ‘Cities from the Sea’ for example place the reader right there amongst the beaches, jetties, winding streets. And in poems like the fabulous 'Secret Closet', the speaker forces the reader to become full voyeur, and it's impossible to look away.
There's an underlying feeling of uneasiness regarding disparate levels of privilege between the staff and the passengers, as well as gender imbalances, and I appreciated the feminist slant of this work in addressing these gulfs. The poet also does really well to create a sense of shifting tides, both geographical, temporal and emotional.
I really enjoyed the erasure poems formed from sections of the book ‘Hundreds of Things a Girl Can Make’ (Holme's got a real talent for erasure, picking just the right words and arranging them for maximum impact) and I love the feeling of growth that runs through this pamphlet - as well as physical and personal growth in a broad sense, plus geographical distance, you witness the speaker(s) private growing-up in more abstract ways (often forced because of the actions of men, but growing in spite of them, or even *to* spite them).
And I have to mention my absolute favourite poem 'Working Titles for this Poem Include…' - it's so clever, I had to read it twice, then once more again. This pamphlet was a wonderful, transportive meditation on a past life, evoking feelings of complicated nostalgia, loss, loneliness, and longing. Holme's writing is so beautiful, it's impossible not to be swept along by the waves she creates.
October 1, 2022
Temporary Stasis is a visceral plunge into the past that jumps from the page. Each poems tells a story, paints a picture, and helps to shed a light on truths that can only emerge from afar. Honest, heartfelt reflections - highly recommend!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews