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What We Do Well
by Geoffrey Heptonstall
65 Poems ~ 82 pages Price: $15:00
Publisher: Cyberwit
ISBN #: 9788 119 228188
To Order: Amazon
Reviewed by Michael Escoubas
A maxim about life often heard in my youth was this: “Find out what you do well and stay with it.” It’s supporting corollary is likewise impactful: “Don’t be distracted by lesser things.” I have found these well-worn clichés to be true. Two things I have learned about Geoffrey Heptonstall: he is not easily distracted; and he writes superb poetry. My goal in this review is to make the obvious even more plain.
Organization
Heptonstall’s sixty-five poems are divided into six sections which dovetail one into the other. I sense a purpose-driven flow: 1. The Music of Many Things (16 poems), 2. Interludes (10), 3. Time in Darkness and Light (5), 4. Sea Dreams (11), Some Other Things (13), and 6. From the Archives (10). Heptonstall’s division titles preview what to expect. I found exquisitely lyrical works in each section, but with special emphasis on lyricism in sections one, two, and four. Section three takes a deeper dive into “Time,” highlighting spiritual evocations of light and darkness. “From the Archives,” ties a ribbon about the whole.
I offer Heptonstall’s dedicatory poem as a tone-setter:
A Natural History
for Debbie
Rose petals blow across the garden
in the early summer storms.
You raise with love many flowers.
Their names become them
as they sway in circular dance.
It is for you, my love, they move,
echoing everything of yours
which nothing can wither
because beauty is within you
forever in renaissance.
How delicate are the peonies
cut to adorn our room
where we admire every season.
The variety of moods is yours
in heat or cool or calm.
I doubt that the poet could have chosen a better poem with which to lead. He uses the connective tissue of Creation and Debbie’s inner spirit as a threshold to express a wide range of human emotions. Heptonstall is sensitive to seasonal nuances as he references, “where we admire every season. / The variety of moods is yours / in heat or cool or calm.” Through What We Do Well, readers are chaperoned on a reflective journey through some of life’s anomalies. Readers should not expect to be coddled. I found myself challenged by Heptonstall’s ability to “drill-down” in his search for truth beyond the superficial.
The title poem “What We Do Well,” bears witness to the author’s spirit-sensitivity, “Of experiment and remembrance: / inspiration seeking a voice, / something said quietly in the crowd, / an allusion to the questioning / of all that requires a clear response.” The poem continues exploring the premise that we often incline toward the marginal, even asserting that “What we do well we do the least.” Indeed, the best poets fight against bending toward the marginal; they make the sacrifices that elevate poetry to life’s pinnacle. This is Geoffrey Heptonstall.
“Words on a Tavern Door,” reflects the poet’s searching spirit, “Others have been before, searching / for the spirit that speaks to the heart. / A way of leaving is also an entrance / opening a door that closes / in the best and worst of times.”
As I worked my way through the collection, I was challenged to discern precisely what the poet had in mind by “the best and worst of times.” I resolved this by simply applying individual poems to my life. Indeed, poetry is best left open to interpretation. This strategy opened the door to the poetic delights of What We Do Well.
“The Lady of the River,” (Interludes) is a perfect example of such delights. Here the poet ushered me into the beauty of autumn’s moods:
The leaves have fallen early this year.
Butterflies are pale and move slowly now.
The reeds reflect the water,
a blue shade neither sea nor sky.
The wind from the east brings rain
in clouds covering the whole earth.
At the water’s edge the willows lament
the passing of the seasons
from heat to frost to snow,
a change like a lady’s moods.
Her eyes are the phases of the moon,
her tears the petals of spring jasmine,
her smile the grace of the mountain hare.
Where she walks the river flows freely.
The waters will rise in a flood
spilling onto the street beneath her window.
Her silken innocence flows on the high tide
as far as the bridge into Heaven.
Throughout the collection Heptonstall’s facility with turn of phrase, a good ear for sound, excellent end-line decisions, and personification, captivated this reviewer with the simple pleasures of words.
As noted above, the collection has a journey-design, a tour through passageways of the spirit. This journey reaffirmed my conviction that poetry can be, and often is, a path to life renewal.
Near the end of the book: “L’Escalier du Paradis” applies an ending flourish:
As enchanting as birdsong,
bell-like laughter of women.
On this morning
I caress your tenderness.
Above in the pale sky
an unknown someone
walks the stairway
towards the day’s romance.
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