A Bird's Idea of Flight

by David Harsent

A sequence of 25 poems which charts a circular 12 of them trace the outward journey, the 13th is pivotal, and the remainder bring the traveller home. The subject of the quest is thanatology, and in particular the author is deeply curious about the business of his own death.

Genres: Poetry

71 pages, Paperback

First published March 2, 1998

About the author

David Harsent is an English poet and TV scriptwriter. Harsent also writes crime fiction novels under the pseudonyms David Lawrence, David Pascoe and Jack Curtis. He has published eleven collections of poetry which have won several literary prizes and awards. Legion won the Forward Prize for best collection 2005 and was shortlisted for both the T.S. Eliot and Whitbread Awards.

He lives with his wife, the actress Julia Watson and their daughter in London.

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of poems to return to. Upon first reading I'll admit to being rather confused and not entirely sure what's going on. The blurb mentions a journey linked with an appearance-changing central figure, who may or may not be death and the poet's investigation into thanatology.
I enjoyed the recurring murky, dark, dismal themes- grotesque and lurid characters, hares, damp puddles, stars through skylights, nature, the ocean, things circling in and through and beyond in a dreamlike way, but have no doubt it is all a bit baffling.
Reading such poetry on a commute is not recommended.

[Peter B Waddell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A richly embroidered series of poems that led me on an odyssey through increasingly familiar, yet slowly evolving, slowly revealing descriptions, places, events.

Not superficial. Fairly complex. Often profound. The poems' prompting towards revised understanding was more often the the spur to further wondering as to any closure.

Take up the challenge. Read each poem, slowly, savouring the cross-references to details previously met, then read it again for pleasure... tright through to the end.