Carole
Bromley Skylight, Smith/Doorstop 2009, £5 ISBN 978-1-906613-08-2
Carole
Bromley strikes me as a keenly observant poet. The poems in her pamphlet Skylight brim with the minute
particulars of daily life. Much of this collection is set in the 50s and 60s;
however this is not mere nostalgia. Bromley writes of the past with purpose. We
may be in world of The Dave Clark Five, Radio Luxemburg, Ovaltine and Wright’s
coal tar soap but she has skilfully rooted events amongst the products and
music of another generation to effectively prove that the issues themselves
which include; a teenager at odds with his parents and a first crush, are
still part of the human condition today.
Bromley’s
narrators are wise women, who offer their experience in a gentle reminiscing
tone ‘‘What comes back to me,’’ ‘‘She was chalk to my mother’s cheese’’ so that
reading them resembles listening to an elderly friend. If the first part of the
pamphlet deals with teenage years, the latter part concerns itself with the
problems of adulthood. In ‘The lovers’ Bromley uses her considerable technical
skill to copy the embarrassment and clumsiness of a couples ‘first time’.
In the opening line speech is employed effectively ‘‘let’s do it he said,’’ revealing that the euphemism for sex has not
changed over the decades, thereby reinforcing the sense of continuity felt in
the pamphlet. In other poems such as ‘DIY’ and ‘Heading for the Hurst’
her narrators permit women to be kinder to themselves. The lexis in ‘DIY’ takes
the form of gentle instruction to a nervous young mother ‘‘Listen’’, ‘‘Don’t
fret about the damp patch’’ And in ‘Heading for Hurst’, a daughter allows
herself time away from looking after mother in order to ‘‘breathe again. Breathe.’’
The pamphlet
also comprises of more straightforward memories that reflect upon; rivals in
love, a stale relationship and the joy of being a grandmother. The final
poem ‘Winding the clocks.’ creates an appropriate conclusion.
An elderly narrator observes her partner’s nightly ritual, the timepieces
becoming a metaphor for loss yet still suggest some optimism for the
future as she hopes ‘‘perhaps they know what time still holds in store for
you.’’ This encompasses the overall tone of the pamphlet, a reflective
woman who has experienced much and has learned that generally events have a way
of sorting themselves out.
Reviewed by
Fiona Sinclair