Reviews
"[These] lines startle with freshness . . . and animation . . . Here, in tension, are violence and beauty, a nod to the Welsh music of alliteration, a jab of Latin economy, the fluid assurance of Walford Davies' own technique. This is a poetry which does not need to court the present, and rock. It is itself. It sings." — The North 44, "The presentation is economical but clear. The line breaks are wittily judged. The diction pulses with the power of different registers and the accompanying emotional gear-changes are psychologically satisfying." -New Welsh Review, "The presentation is economical but clear. The line breaks are wittily judged. The diction pulses with the power of different registers and the accompanying emotional gear-changes are psychologically satisfying." --New Welsh Review, The poems in Damian Walford Davies first full collection are fascinated by serations of light, parodies of shadow, and all shades in between. The bare flesh of a 1951 boxing match, luminous shirts in a country lane, surreal urban attire, a bat skeleton and the scales of a dying fish illuminate the volume with suits of light. This collection doesnt shy away from the disturbing and violent: a bagged fox, a landscape illuminated by atomic afterblast, plague pits on the Piccadilly line, an aria sung to the accompaniment of artillery fire, a variety of brutal aftermaths. And yet these poems also celebrate precious interrelations: inscriptions of love on an effigy, charged mementos, the delicate breaking of ice. Irony and play give edge to the vision.The volume contains a number of sequences, including Kilvert,which responds in a pared-down voice to some unnerving entries in the famous Victorian diary; Composite, which reads the life of ten contemporary paintings; the experimental Aerial, the result of a Cessna flight above Welsh ground, and Ideal City, a series of letters to a visionary architect. ******************************* Review: Walford Davies is adept at noticing things and transforming them in the process of rendering into something rich and strange. Planet His lines startle with freshness [] and animation []. Here, in tension, are violence and beauty, a nod to the Welsh music of alliteration, a jab of Latin economy, the fluid assurance of Walford Davies own technique. This is a poetry which does not need to court the present, and rock. It is itself. It sings. The North 44 The presentation is economical but clear. The line breaks are wittily judged. The diction pulses with the power of different registers and the accompanying emotional gear-changes are psychologically satisfying. New Welsh Review, "The presentation is economical but clear. The line breaks are wittily judged. The diction pulses with the power of different registers and the accompanying emotional gear-changes are psychologically satisfying." --New Welsh Review, "[These] lines startle with freshness . . . and animation . . . Here, in tension, are violence and beauty, a nod to the Welsh music of alliteration, a jab of Latin economy, the fluid assurance of Walford Davies' own technique. This is a poetry which does not need to court the present, and rock. It is itself. It sings." -- The North 44, "Walford Davies is adept at noticing things and transforming them in the process of rendering into something rich and strange." --Planet, "Walford Davies is adept at noticing things and transforming them in the process of rendering into something rich and strange." -Planet, "Walford Davies is adept at noticing things and transforming them in the process of rendering into something rich and strange." --Planet, "[These] lines startle with freshness . . . and animation . . . Here, in tension, are violence and beauty, a nod to the Welsh music of alliteration, a jab of Latin economy, the fluid assurance of Walford Davies' own technique. This is a poetry which does not need to court the present, and rock. It is itself. It sings." - The North 44, "Walford Davies is adept at noticing things and transforming them in the process of rendering into something rich and strange." -Planet, "The presentation is economical but clear. The line breaks are wittily judged. The diction pulses with the power of different registers and the accompanying emotional gear-changes are psychologically satisfying." -New Welsh Review, "[These] lines startle with freshness . . . and animation . . . Here, in tension, are violence and beauty, a nod to the Welsh music of alliteration, a jab of Latin economy, the fluid assurance of Walford Davies' own technique. This is a poetry which does not need to court the present, and rock. It is itself. It sings." -The North 44, "Walford Davies is adept at noticing things and transforming them in the process of rendering into something rich and strange." —Planet, "[These] lines startle with freshness . . . and animation . . . Here, in tension, are violence and beauty, a nod to the Welsh music of alliteration, a jab of Latin economy, the fluid assurance of Walford Davies' own technique. This is a poetry which does not need to court the present, and rock. It is itself. It sings." -- The North 44, "The presentation is economical but clear. The line breaks are wittily judged. The diction pulses with the power of different registers and the accompanying emotional gear-changes are psychologically satisfying." —New Welsh Review
