Soft Sift

by Mark Ford

Soft Sift is Mark Ford's first collection since the widely praised Landlocked was published in 1992. Barbara Everett has remarked of his recent 'Mark Ford's poems are so cool that it's mystifying they aren't cold. But they aren' they are friendly, touching and very funny. His work exhibits an enormous casual elegance of mind and style, producing work that is witty without pose, refined and subtle without evasiveness.' There are curved stories here, intrigues and quests whose exuberance of plot and sense of quizzical or farcical immersion in the world of appearances is rendered with a light tough and a sure command of tone, staging the conflict between the mind's drift and the 'inflexible etiquette' of form (Gerard Manley Hopkins's 'soft sift / In an hourglass'). The making of these condensed dramas is often the unmaking of the person speaking, whose 'frets and fresh starts' reveal an original sensibility concerned not with self-display but with a general comedy of wrong moves. Mark Ford has been compared to an American Philip Larkin, or an English John Ashbery, but his poetry is in fact, as John Bayley has remarked 'wholly sui generis'.

Genres: Poetry

51 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Caspar "moved to storygraph" Bryant]

Really vibed with this one & is my favourite from Ford of the two I've read! There are Americans talking outside my door. illegal.

The Ashbery is here ! so well !! One of the best I've ever met of encountering JA & forging paths while crafting homage. Thank you mark for signing this xx

[Octavio Solis · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first, infernally impenetrable and opaque. But each poem taught me more of this writer's poetic vernacular. Now, I feel like I understand him because he innately understands me. His poems in this book are fictive forays into character in much the same way that Browning's sonnets were. They relay a particular personal voice in its struggle to make sense of itself. I started the book today and am more than halfway through it.

I know many people did not enjoy this book. I somehow managed to feel deeply what Mark Ford was after in his labyrinthian poems. I found the book enriching and meaningful.

[Mark Friend · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cover blurb of Mark Ford’s Soft Sift promises curved stories, staging conflict and condensed dramas, with a general comedy of wrong moves. And it does deliver. This is one of my surprise reads of the year so far.

It feels like a Brechtian / Epic Drama with each new poem juxtaposing scenes and actions against the others, as Ford slowly builds a collective sense of unity through his use of re-occurring images and motifs.

I’m a big fan of reading a poet’s collection as they intended – like listening to music and albums – where your appreciation doesn’t just come from the single piece but builds through the whole collection. Soft sift is one such collection. It slowly engaged me, until it exploded and held me to its end.

Ford’s language choices, evocative phrasing and imagery are all playfully theatrical but there is also an economy in his selection of these details to create ambiguity and dramatic tension - withholding pieces until the end and even then not spelling everything out. He has left space for our reading pleasure to continue, musing over the poem for quite some time, before turning the page for the next one.

Poems that particularly grabbed my attention were; Looping the Loop, Hooked, I Wish, He Aims, Brinkmanship, She Spears, We Crave, One Figures, You Must, Snags and Syndromes, Inside, and ‘Stop knocking…’.

Even these poem titles read in chronological order like scenes of a drama!

[SJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

The second half resonated more with me but in general I just..didn't..get it?

[scarlettraces · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4.5)

[Liam Malone · Rating 1 out of 5]

I felt this a pretentious collection aiming to use obscure words and non-English phrases to impress the reader instead of inviting her into these usually senseless ramblings. I have read dozens of volumes over the past few years and this was the worst one. I hope that rereading a year or so changes my mind. I bought it because: 1) the author was 'multi-national (hence the languages; 2) a slim volume and easily read in a day or sitting; 3) a remainder costing $4.98.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't recall the last time I liked a book by a breathing poet who I didn't personally know as much as I liked this one. British guy, born in Kenya, lived all over. Probably best known here for editing both the Selected Frank O'Hara and the Library of America John Ashbery. He has a couple of poems in the "New European Poets" anthology, which is pretty easy to find.

[hh · Rating 3 out of 5]

really 2.5 stars. read this in one strong gulp, but wasn't particularly arrested by much of it. some lines here and there gave my pause, but nothing totally stopped me in my tracks. i found myself meandering through these poems mainly wondering what i was missing.

[Mills College Library]

821.92 F7111s 2001