DARK AND LIGHT VERSE is the second collection from Montana-based poet Allen Ireland. Broken down into seven sections, each loosely united by a common theme, there are 62 poems gathered here, mostly short two or three stanza constructions that also all delve in varying degrees into lightness and positivity or darkness and despair, or both, as signposted by the book’s title.
For the most part, Ireland employs traditional structures, with rhyming couplets a common and particularly well utilized device for his creations. The relative brevity of most of Ireland’s poems mean that, in order to deliver maximum impact, he has to make each word count. For the most part, that editorial preciseness is confidently achieved here.
The collection’s first real heavyweight blow comes with ‘Two Men In Love’, the second poem in this volume. It tells the story of a pair of star crossed lovers and their sad demise, and is instantly captivating as this excerpt shows:
“Two men in love were standing on the edge
Of a cloudless cliff. “The world is beautiful,”
One said, “but also cruel. Suppose we just . . .”
“You can’t be serious,” the other said.
“I’m very serious,” his lover said…”
The first section – ‘Children Of Light’ – is arguably the most instantly rewarding chapter in DARK AND LIGHT VERSE, with ‘At the Public Library’ another interesting affair, turning from a charming scene of a young boy choosing a book at a library, only to end on an unclear but darker note, while ‘Couple Arguing’ tells its story brutally in less than forty-five words:
“They remind me of other voices
That jarred me as a child,
Voices that clashed like cymbals
In an orchestra gone wild.
And added were the drumbeats
Of my heart inside my head. . . .
The neighbors fight all night.
I hear another war instead.”
This volume is at its best when Ireland imbibes his poems with this sort of visceral power. Naturally though there are peaks and troughs, and ‘Part Two: A Dog’s Life’ is the section that probably contains the least engaging works here. Elsewhere, the opening few poems of ‘Part Six: The Inevitable End’ represent a collection within the collection as Ireland gives us three poems in succession about abandoned places, lost monuments and ghost towns that really paint very vivid pictures indeed. It’s a concept you can’t help but wish he’d developed further.
Ireland spent his childhood in Battle Branch, North Carolina, and the fifth chapter here is seemingly dedicated to its memory, with ‘Mountain Metropolis’ and ‘Property Marker’ particularly evocative. More presently, Ireland gives a timely insight into the Coronavirus pandemic with the well observed ‘A COVID Christmas (2020)’ which will hit particularly close to home for many of us:
“Saturn has a mask of rings,
Like Jupiter’s, homespun.
The two are social distancing
As they meet around the sun.
Meanwhile, infected Earth
Is quarantined below.
For mandates do not work,
And vaccines are slow.”
The vast majority of the poems here are a delight, but there is perhaps a small handful that could have been cut without taking away from the overall quality of the collection. That’s a minor and personal gripe though, and overall there’s more than enough here to entertain, intrigue, and charm, with readers particularly likely to enjoy Ireland’s imagery and ability to deploy a twist in the tale of his poems.
DARK AND LIGHT VERSE strikes a great balance between the darkness and light of its title, juxtaposing pain, loss and isolation with charming and often warm scenes in an evocative collection of succinct and powerful poems.
~Joseph Sharratt for IndieReader