The title poem is a searching parable in which a man must reckon with his sins before Death brings him finally to eternal rest: “And as I looked down upon my feet, Another body did I see, A body I’d not gleaned before… And the body, it was me.” The middling wood acts itself as a liminal space between life and death and also represents a state of being that is spiritually fulfilled through self-reflection and self-abandonment, and many of the poems survey this philosophical and spiritual territory, though some take a much more direct approach to spirituality, like twin poems “Black Pilgrimage,” and “Stregi,” which with an admiring spirit explore satanic paganism.
Several of Lind’s poems are also concerned with sexuality and love, like “Neolithic” in which a prehistoric human attempts to make a monument to his lover: “The tools that I most needed // I could not find at all, // So today, by torchlight, I drew your likeness // In ochre on a wall.” Others, like “Court of Night,” approach a shimmer of what the Romantic poets achieved in their enduring verses, and to Lind’s credit, beautifully resurrect their tradition in a contemporary context.
Takeaway: Lustful, erudite, inventive poems in a Romantic and pagan vein.
Comparable Titles: Michael R. Burch, George Sterling.
Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
“Middling Wood & Other Poems offers a diverse and richly layered poetic experience characterised by vivid imagery, thematic diversity, emotional resonance, experimentation with form, narrative storytelling and lyrical qualities, inviting readers into a world of intellectual and emotional depth.”
