A clear-eyed approach to grief, Christopher Arksey's Variety Turns

Variety Turns (Broken Sleep Books, 2023) is Christopher Arksey’s first pamphlet and is unusual in many ways. To start with, it’s thematic in nature rather than following the time-trusted route of providing an initial wide-ranging sample of the poet’s attributes. This decision alone indicates the poet’s confidence in his own writing, which also extends to a trust in his readers throughout these poems, never forcing arguments or conclusions, instead allowing layered details to speak for themselves.

The pamphlet revolves around the loss of a mother, tracking the process of her dying and then her family’s grief. Such highly personal subject matter means it’s far too easy to conflate the poet and the first-person protagonist, as is demonstrated by several of the otherwise insightful blurbs that accompany the book. However, Arksey himself refuses to fall into such a trap. One excellent example of his method is ‘Grief’, which I’ll now quote in full (with thanks to the poet himself for granting me permission to do so):

Indescribable,
though I’ve tried.
Failing in my usual
way of stumped silence
or inarticulate babble.
The best I can offer:
a permanent resident,
neither seen nor heard,
though their presence
is felt everywhere.

The poem combines self-deprecating humour with a clear-eyed, never maudlin attitude towards hefty themes, all alongside an implicit reminder that poetry is art and artifice rather than mere anecdote, as is reflected by Arksey’s explicit invocation of metaphor. Moreover, he engages with the suggestion that elegies are renowned for allowing the poet to overreach to express something that cannot be expressed. Arksey’s afore-mentioned self-deprecation undercuts such an approach, providing us with an implicit statement of poetic intent for the pamphlet as a whole, standing against received wisdom.

Both in approach and in execution, Variety Turns introduces us to a fully formed voice. A quick glance at the endorsements might suggest it’s a hard read, but Christopher Arksey’s light touch enables him to dodge any accusation of sentimentality or self-indulgence. This is a pamphlet that shows how pain can be turned into poetry without abandoning the reader, and that’s a considerable achievement in the current poetic climate.