Zoom!

by Simon Armitage

Zoom! is the book which launched Simon Armitage’s meteoric rise to poetic stardom. Unusually for a first collection, Zoom! was picked as a Poetry Book Society Choice as well as being shortlisted for a Whitbread Poetry Award (forerunner of the Costa Book Awards) in 1989. Written at a time when he was still working as a probation officer, it established Armitage as one of the most distinctive new voices in British poetry. Exactly thirty years later he was appointed UK Poet Laureate.

Genres: Poetry

82 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1990

About the author

Simon Armitage, whose The Shout was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, has published ten volumes of poetry and has received numerous honors for his work. He was appointed UK Poet Laureate in 2019

Armitage's poetry collections include Book of Matches (1993) and The Dead Sea Poems (1995). He has written two novels, Little Green Man (2001) and The White Stuff (2004), as well as All Points North (1998), a collection of essays on the north of England. He has produced a dramatised version of Homer's Odyssey and a collection of poetry entitled Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus The Corduroy Kid (which was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize), both of which were published in July 2006. Many of Armitage's poems appear in the AQA (Assessment and Qualifications Alliance) GCSE syllabus for English Literature in the United Kingdom. These include "Homecoming", "November", "Kid", "Hitcher", and a selection of poems from Book of Matches, most notably of these "Mother any distance...". His writing is characterised by a dry Yorkshire wit combined with "an accessible, realist style and critical seriousness."

Reviews

[Fern Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of poetry discussing many different issues. It was a lot deeper than I expected. A good book for discussions

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought if I was having a bit of a Simon Armitage season, reading his non-fiction and his translations, I should have a look at the beginning, with his first poetry collection.

For the first half or so, in a couple of sittings, it was so obvious that Armitage would have 'zoomed' into the collective British poetry consciousness with a distinctive, readable but meaningful voice.

I felt the later poems in the book were less accessible and needed a commentary for them to have a chance of working for me.

[James Askari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Astonishingly copious, unaffected and deft. There are poems about people dropping out of airplanes in a totalitarian Latin American republic that ask 'what do we tell the children?' and exploit the landings' poetic inconguity; poems about Armitage the social worker's charges who trace his hands wordlessly on the Tube or piss themselves, the spread from their jeans staining and indicting a whole town. One persona is of the teen existentialist, the Camus-reader who is thoughtfully dissociated. Armitage also evokes neighbourhood and sexual companionship, particularly the end of an affair in a sodden summer of bickering, with warmth.

[Wuttipol✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Night Shift

Once again I have missed you by moments;
steam hugs the rim of the just-boiled kettle,

water in the pipes finds its own level.
In another room there are other signs

of someone having left: dust, unsettled
by the sweep of the curtains; the clockwork

contractions of the paraffin heater.
For weeks now we have come and gone, woken

in empty acres of bedding, written
lipstick love-notes on the bathroom mirror

and in this space we have worked and paid for
we have found ourselves, but lost each other.

Upstairs, at least, there is understanding
in things more telling than lipstick kisses;

the air, still hung with spores of your hairspray;
body-heat stowed in the crumpled duvet.


Somewhere Along the Line

You met me to apologize, you were saying
as we waited in the drizzle for the slow train.
When it focused in we said goodbye and we kissed
and from the window you were caught; teary and fixed.

You ran across the wooden bridge, I knew you would,
to get down on the other platform and to wave,
but as you did the eastbound Leeds train flickered past
and ran you like a movie through its window-frames.

I keep these animated moments of you as
our catalogue of chances rushed and chances missed.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I'm familiar with Simon Armitage's impressive work as a translator of medieval poetry,* this is my first encounter with his own original verse, and I found many poems to enjoy here. The ones I didn't care for are either the ones I didn't really understand (such as "An Anthology of the Americas", "Hunky Dory", and "Not the Bermuda Triangle") or those that felt skillful but obvious ("All Beer and Skittles", "Very Simply Topping Up the Brake Fluid", "Ten Pence Story")—but those which address the strength and fragility of human bonds ("Night Shift", "You Are Here", "Somewhere Along the Line"), or those dealing with personal and family memories and experiences ("Why Write of the Sun", "Greenhouse", "November", "Still For Sale") are really good. "Working for the Mussel Farmers" is a beautifully simple one to end on, with "Zoom!" coming after it as a neat summary, or perhaps a manifesto.

*Namely, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (reviewed here), The Death of King Arthur (here), and The Owl and the Nightingale (here).

[Maik Arnold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zoom is an impressive bouquet of poems that reach from the question of why to write of the sun, over people dropping out of aeroplanes in a totalitarian Latin American republic, to more critical lines about the phenomenology of Harold Garfinkel and to scenes of social workers such as in A Painted Bird for Thomas Szasz. Sometimes, the reader has to carry a heavy burden when to decode the meaning of the chopped lines. But most of the pieces are beautifully crafted and of lyrical delight. Recommend this selection of the early Armitage for experienced poetry lovers and who want to dive deep into the play of language.

[Ailsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simon Armitage used some fantastic imagery to talk about a range of issues in the modern world, and he did it very well. It's not the style of poetry I usually enjoy, but it was excellent. The emotional punch of a lot of these poems is excellent, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to them. They forced me to think, to empathise, to connect, to understand - the highest praise I can offer a poem.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

The very first collection from our current Poet Laureate. This dates back to 1989 and features a fresh faced Armitage on the back cover. A wonderful collection with a very Northern flavour. My favourites include ‘Bus Talk’, ‘Canard’ and ‘Ten Pence Story’.

[Peter Longden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thursday 22 August 2024
#thesealeychallenge
Day 22: ‘Zoom’ by Simon Armitage
The poet laureate’s first book of poems is a magical collection of social observation in pacy, intense poetry. It’s the first time I’ve read his early work and not the last!
Fantastic imagery, solid storytelling.

[Joe Avary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really great stuff in here but it doesn’t rise to a 4-star level - wish I could rate it a 3.5.

[Boydsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seemingly mundane life given life through fairly creative descriptions. His work gets even better over the years.