This collection stems from a number of themes. The first is the judgment that religious images can have imaginative value, even if devoid of objective truth. The second is the instillation of these values into reality. The third is an acceptance and exploration of the world in modernity. None of these things are consciously pursued, but where they are found they are embraced; where they exist in subtle form they are sometimes highlighted. The poems are exercises, experiments with a range of form and diction. I am convinced that to be a good poet it is necessary to avoid being a narrow one.
Much that this collection owes to tradition is due to pure osmosis, but some particulars may be noted. To Wallace Steven's extrusion of the imagination upon reality it is particularly indebted. Eliot's lessons in musicality are perhaps weakly present, but lack his genius. Likewise, John Berryman's tortured syntax and intellectual abstractions may exist in some small form here, but his craft far exceeds my own. My overtly modern images bear some resemblance to Ben Doyle's poetry, notably "Tug" and "Radio, Radio". I cannot spot Yeats, but he may yet linger.
The boldest poem in this collection, and the most applicable to my project, is "Tectonic (The Age of Enlightenment)". It presents a collage of images where each couplet is an argument in itself that equates an instance of the supernatural and imaginative to the real world. A muddled chorus of languages is Babylon; dew is divine sustenance. The poem's motive power is its strong images and language, particularly in the latter half. The final stanza presents a sort of sideways sum of the arguments, reflecting on the state of the modern world. The scapegoat (science) of the fourth stanza is the wiry beast in the last, and brings the themes together in a anaphoric chorus.
In "Nectarines", nearly every term important to the poem is mentioned in the first stanza. The decision between peaches and nectarines; the idea of taste in memory; difference; location. Then the chorus, the turning point which is a highly-sensuous and lyrical image of the cutting of a peach: the sweet pleasure of taste with obvious sexual overtones, and a harsh, wrenching feeling of separation. It is reminiscent of the lyrical couplet at the end of Berryman's Dream Song 1. The next stanza states the current particular: buying nectarines once again. Then are two statements that serve as keys to the emotional aspects of the poem. The first is cryptic but resonant, highlighting a need for comfort. The second closes the poem in a reality that is most powerful in its connection with the past, or to an inaccessible present.
"Leaving Holy Places" is a straightforward poem with a single core idea. "The Midnight Summons" moves across the night landscape and fights to remain fluid despite its strict form. "Nectarines" struggles with the difficulty of being intimate without resorting to cliche. "The Hill" is a simple, mystical reverie dealing with acceptance of death.