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Orphic Politics: Poems by Tim Lilburn
Published by McClelland and Stewart, 2008
Reviewed by Colleen McKie
As an English major in university, I was required to take a certain number of poetry courses. I like poetry. I even write it myself. But the odd time I’d find myself in a class discussion where it seemed I was the only one who just did not “get” the poem. Everybody else would be discussing it in depth, from its tone to its meaning, and I would be hunched over my desk trying to figure out if it was even written in English. This usually left me with a pain behind my left eye and the feeling that maybe I wasn’t all that smart.
Unfortunately, Tim Lilburn’s book of poems, Orphic Politics, reminded me of these class discussions, which makes it really hard for me to review it. I can’t really say whether I liked the book or not because, quite honestly, I just didn’t “get” it.
The book is a collection of poems written about becoming ill. I found them to be all over the place, and while full of imagery that taken on its own I found beautiful, put all together I found very hectic and fast paced. (Which, I imagine, one might very well feel when diagnosed with a serious illness.)
If you like complex poetry with lots of hidden meaning and imagery, I would suggest maybe giving this volume of poetry a try. But, if like me, you tend to have more of an appreciation for poetry where a tree is really just a tree, Orphic Politics might not be for you.
For more information on Orphic Politics, please visit the publisher's website.
Did you read Lilburn's Orphic Politics? |
