Seeing Stars by Simon Armitage
A poetry collection where the poems are structured like short stories, containing dark humour with a hidden meaning. They have a dream-like quality to them, everyday moments with extraordinary circumstances to them.
I’ve always liked Armitage’s work ever since studying him at GCSE level. I was lucky enough to attend a poetry reading he was part of on a school trip. I read more of his work at university but haven’t read Seeing Stars before. His work still has the magic quality I remember, where at the end of the poem you’re hit with an emotion/feeling you weren’t expecting, one that lingers. I usually have to pause for a minute between poems to mull over what it means to me and why I’ve reacted a certain way to it.
This collection feels like strange dreams. Each poem has a surreal feel to it, often taking a strange course, just like dreams do.
The poems that stood out to me and I enjoyed the most are:
An Accommodation: A couple are struggling and decide to place a net curtain down the middle of their house. They find it hard to adjust at first, but grow used to having separate lives. They still live together but never remove the dividing curtain.
For me the poem can represent how a person will stay with you and influence you even after a break-up, or if you live separate lives. It also represents that sometimes, even if you try to move on, you can’t escape certain people.
The Cuckoo: James Cameron, after his eighteenth birthday party, is told by his parents they aren’t really his parents, they’re actually actors. His whole family, his girlfriend and best friend are also actors. They all leave to find new acting job. James walks to the paddock, heartbroken. He sees a cuckoo fall and land near his feet. It flaps a few times but then dies. James then realises no matter how bad he feels there’s always someone worse off. He then notices the bird’s electric motor, wired wings and the spring sticking out of its mouth.
This is probably my favourite poem in the collection. It has such a surreal dream-like quality that I can imagine it as one of my own dreams, waking up and feeling real emotions it’s inflicted. This poem stirred me and continues to linger in my mind with its possibilities. It also helps reveal the sometimes overexaggerated insecurities we can have about the people and relationships around us, and whether what they feel for us is real or not.
What we Know Now: An elf tells Kevin that he’s exactly halfway through his life. The elf gives him the option to carry on with his life or have his hourglass flipped so he’d grow younger instead of older. Kevin refuses it, not wanting his wife to grow old alone. The elf calls him a gentleman and informs him he knows Annie, and she looks younger everyday.
I love this poem because it makes us question how much we could sacrifice for the ones we love and whether they would do the same.
Scribbled Thoughts 