Part-Truths  

Sam Smith's ‘The Journal’

Autumn/Winter 2009

Reviewed by Emma Lee

http://thesamsmith.webs.com/

“Part-Truths” Michael Pedersen

It’s refreshing to meet a poet who can use a first person narrative that’s not solely focused on the poet and his thoughts. In “John” who overdosed but survived, sort of, “So I’m tongue trapped, just like the oxygen bubbles/ they thought made it to your brain: ‘Hypoxic Injury’,/ it doesn’t sound real until comically infused,/ re-labelled something of simpler ilk/ - ‘cabbaged’ or ‘crippled’ – besides, all that scientific terminology fails to touch/ on the warm tingling bliss of failure dancing up the arm”, those soft vowel sounds picking up the tone of regret running through. The poem doesn’t back away from responsibility, “Count the number of ‘sorrys that I owe you”, but acknowledges that no one saw it coming.

Elsewhere “Otter” is a fun wildlife poem, “Contrasexual Cuddles” a poem in love with language and sound, “skin’s oils glow, ever deepening/ as undulating pants and bouncing pitches/ a crescendo…” and others take in the G20 summit, beaches in Edinburgh and musings on sharing a birthday with Bloomsday and Sylvia Plath’s and Ted Hughes’ wedding day. In “Oyster” whilst others are noticing her beauty,

“Only She
notices the fraying ropes on rusted anchors,
how near they are to snapping;
tides breaking like glass smashing
the travelling silhouettes of travelling residents,
under a moon of ten thousand pieces
of polished silver;
floating tyres and burnt-out vans
lurking in the gloom and fog,
as if ashamed.
They needn’t be with her.

She’s wasting away
in this exhausted lung of a town,
fraternizing with the likes of me”.

“Part-Truths” was the right length for a pamphlet. It’s one weakness that it kept to the same tempo and tone throughout. If Michael Pedersen is working towards a collection, he’s got the scope and breadth of subject matter but needs to consider varying the pace: throw in the odd slow dance amongst the disco.