On Balance

by Sinéad Morrissey

Set against a backdrop of ecological and economic instability, Sinéad Morrissey’s sixth collection, On Balance, revisits some of the great feats of human engineering to reveal the states of balance and inbalance that have shaped our history. The poems also address gender inequality and our inharmonious relationship with the natural world. A poem on Lilian Bland – the first woman to design, build and fly her own aeroplane – celebrates the audacity and ingenuity of a great Irish heroine. Elsewhere, explorers in Greenland set foot on a fjord system accessible to Europeans for the first time in millennia as a result of global warming. But if life is fragile then its traces are persistent, insistent, and in ‘Articulation’ we are invited to stop and wonder at the reconstructed skeleton of Napoleon’s horse, Marengo, ‘whose very hooves trod mud at Austerlitz’, suspended in time ‘for however long he lasts before he crumbles’.

Genres: Poetry

71 pages, Paperback

First published March 25, 2017

About the author

Raised in Belfast, she was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where she took BA and PhD degrees, and won the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award in 1990. She has published four collections of poetry: There Was Fire in Vancouver (1996), Between Here and There (2001), The State of the Prisons (2005), and Through the Square Window (2009), the second, third and fourth of which were shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. After periods living in Japan and New Zealand she now lives in Belfast, where she has been writer-in-residence at Queen's University, Belfast and currently lectures.

Her collection, The State of the Prisons, was shortlisted for the Poetry Now Award in 2006. In November 2007, she received a Lannan Foundation Fellowship for "distinctive literary merit and for demonstrating potential for continued outstanding work". Her poem "Through the Square Window" won first prize in the 2007 British National Poetry Competition. Her collection, Through the Square Window, won the Poetry Now Award for 2010.

Reviews

[Alice-Elizabeth (Prolific Reader Alice) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will echo here what another reader has said on GR about On Balance. I loved the range of imagery and some of the writing, however, the overall message and viewpoints struggled to come across to me.

[One Sassy Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for college and I will be copy+paste”ing” this review into all of her collections, as I have currently read everything from the 1st collection - “there was fire in Vancouver” - to the 6th and most recent - “on balance”.

I think Sinéad Morrissey’s poetry is among the best that I have ever read or had the pleasure to study. However, she isn’t a favourite of mine. I think that, personally, I like poetry that I can identify myself with/ poems that really resonate with me. It doesn’t mean that I won’t appreciate or bow down to the many beautiful poems she wrote about mythology/legends/travelling… Her poems about japan are absolutely incredible.

Nevertheless, I do appreciate autobiographical poetry more. I think I particularly tend to enjoy poetry from the 20th back more. So, it’s not surprising for me that I end up enjoying Eavan Boland’s poetry more, for example. There’s just something missing in most contemporary poetry for me. Some feeling that I get from “older” poetry that I don’t from poetry written post-90’s/ early 00’s.

[Chahna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had just read one Sinead Morrissey poem, which I adored, before I started reading this book. I was very excited about this, and honestly, almost no poem resonated with me. They are just heavy on words. Not for me. What a disappointment.

[T P Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection. It's quite cerebral and the layout can be annoying. It's a miscellany of unrelated poems - there's no theme or connection running through these. Some are fantastic and others left me cold. She's a major talent but this may not be the best showcase for her work.

[Jennifer deBie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of pieces, drawn from subjects that are intrinsically Irish, and beyond. Morrissey has an incredible voice whether recounting personal history, family history, or the history of those she takes interest in.

Look out especially for the titular "On Balance", "The Mayfly", and "Whitelessness".

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really strong poems:

The Millihelen
Collier
My 17th Century Girlhood
Articulation
Colour Photographs of Tsarist Russia
Whitelessness

[Sanjuro · Rating 1 out of 5]

Morrissey has won many awards, including the Forward Prize for this collection, and the Goodreads ratings were stellar. Then, I read the first poem, The Millihelen," and liked it very much, so I bought the book. Imagine my surprise when, upon reading the rest of the collection, I did not find myself resonating with a single other poem in the entire book. Not one.

Poetry does not always need to be accessible. I usually prefer when it is, bit there are inaccessible collections that I like very much. Regardless of accessibility, I do think a poem should have an inner logic, or at least relay language in such a way so as to draw the reader into associations that stir the imagination. With this book, I found myself reading each poem, struggling to find the point, any point, or even to find a lyrical quality that might lead me into myself in some way. The back of the book claimed that the collection was "set against the backdrop of ecological and economic instability," but such themes were only discernible, at least to me, in a small number of poems. There were far more poems that seemed to be saying something, only to end on a different, seemingly unrelated note, and I must confess, I couldn't really grasp the direction of many of them.

To be fair, I read 16 of the 23 poems. The last seven, I just decided the book wasn't working for me. Maybe I missed some resounding meeting of the themes. This just wasn't a book I connected with in any way.

[Barbara McVeigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first came across this collection through Frank Skinner’s Poetry Podcast. It’s worth a listen!

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast...

For me, the first half of the collection is stronger than the second, but there are many brilliant poems in here. In particular, I learned a lot from Morrissey about structure. The poems that work best are those that delve into darkness and the chance of death.

My faves:
-Receiving the Dead
-At the Balancing Lakes
-Perfume
-The Millihelen
-At the Moscow State Circus
-On Balance
-Platinum Anniversary
-Collier
-Das Ding an Sich
-The Singing Gates
-Colour Photographs of Tsarist Russia

[E A M Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of interesting poems. They roam geographically, emotionally and in time, and entertain and illuminate the oddities of life and science.
I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who likes modern poetry.

[Alarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Morrissey is from Northern Ireland. I realized when I began listing to Poetry Please on BBC4 a few years ago that I knew little about living poets outside the U.S. That surprised me, since I read mostly British and Irish poets in college, but I also favored 19 c. literature then. In 2016, Morrissey was in Kansas City, so I got to hear her and buy her book Parallax. That’s why I dove into this new volume with high expectations. Morrissey is more erudite than most poets I prefer, but there are exceptions to every rule. Her language sings, so I can forgive having to back up and read it again, thinking, “Wait, what did she say?” It’s sophisticated, but not dull. Vulnerability, warmth, and feminism keep me reading on.

I had never heard of Lilian Bland (1878-1971), memorialized in “The Mayfly,” but the poem made me cheer for her. In 1910 Bland became the first woman to pilot and BUILD her own aircraft. Early flight took a lot of courage. Building your own craft took a lot of brains. Doing those things despite all the naysayers is heroic. Remember, her name is BLAND:

“Conspicuously mis-christened – what chink
in the general atmosphere, what sudden
lift of bones and breath

allowed you to stand up straight in mechanic’s overalls
(skirts are out of the question) and plot
your escape route into the sky?”

“Whitelessness” contains six numbered sections named for occupations (geologist, photographer, geographer, artist, marine biologist, and archaeologist). Each persona was warm and engaging, speaking in a conversational tone about what lights his or her fire. I especially liked the ending of “The Geologist.”

“…. If it’s life
that controls the geological machinery
of the planet, rather than the other way round,
we are neither new, nor tragic. This came
to me one morning as I sorted out my cabin
and the hundreds of marathon runners
in my brain stopped and changed direction.”

[jude lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Morrisey’s use of form in this collection is fascinating and her intent in tone is always such a clear through line. Some of these poems really stood out to me. The amount of layers of persepctive in “At the Balancing Lakes” is so impressive its astonishing. The uneasiness of “The Millihelen” is palpable. Had a great conversation in regards to how she responds to Larkin in “On Balance”. And the ways she portrays motherhood and love through various pieces (Nativity, Platinum Anniversary, My Life According to You) is really beautiful and varied. I think this collection had a lot of strength in Morrissey’s style and accessibility. I do think there were parts that fell flat due to a lack of connection to the piece. A lot of her narratives rely on relatable experiences and when it wasn’t something I found interesting I had a hard time feeling connected to the poem. A great dip into Morrisey’s work though!

[Sarah Hobbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sinéad Morrissey's latest collection acts as the metaphorical scales for the worlds political, economical and down-right sensible issues not only in the modern era but throughout time itself.

It is clear to see from the outset how On Balance has become one of the leading collections in the world of poetry and how it won the 2017 Forward Prize and shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards 2017.

Click here for my full review...

[Eva Griffin · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were five poems from this collection that I loved. The rest left me wanting. Maybe it's a matter of taste but it seemed Morrissey got so bogged down in historical details that any sense of feeling or connection got lost. The theme? Tenuous. I'm disappointed as I had high hopes for a Forward Prize winner, but the majority of this collection failed to excite me in any meaningful way.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet again, this talented poet strokes her poetic persuasions into a purring potency that entertains & provokes in equal parts...well worth the plaudits but perhaps not a perfect 5-star billing. Morrissey has claws & paws like any cat with the mouse at its mercy; an eternal feline conundrum...raw power or teasing playfulness?! Morrissey is a cat! (Cryptic, eh?!)

[Malachy Moran · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of poetry is incredible. Opening it was like discovering a long lost love or a best friend I had forgotten. Sinèad Morrissey is the poet I some day dream to be. Her words flow like a tumult, inescapable and carrying me with them. This is the first book of hers I have read, and I look forward to many others. 6/5 if I could

[Amie Whittemore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy Morrissey's adeptness with syntax and sound, her careful attention to each word. This book did not disappoint in those arenas, though there weren't many poems that, on their own swept me off my feet.

[Manda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The works that I enjoyed the most:

On Balance
Platinum Anniversary
My Life According to You
Das Ding An Sich
The Rope

I felt a pull of nostalgia from these. Really drawn to them.

[Zoe Leary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful imagery centering around feats of engineering. Sometimes I didn't understand the entirety of the poem because I am woefully uninformed about quite a lot of historical events however I still understood the emotions and thoroughly enjoyed it overall

[Juliano · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoughtful collection. What I enjoyed most was the turns of formal playfulness and the clarity of expression, every thought crystalline on the page. Yet more stunningly good work from an Irish writer, this was a soft + necessary reprieve from the hard-edge of so much poetry l've read lately.

[Catherine Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquisite

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection had stunning imagery but was sadly just out of my grasp of understanding.

[Marissa Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are few poetry collections I go back to more often than this one. Each page is a delight, with certain poems giving the same feeling of breathlessness on the fiftieth read as on the first.

[Rebecca Travers · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who doesn't read a lot of poetry, this was decent. I enjoyed the poems based on mythology and the natural world the most.

[Natasha Leighton · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

She's a great poet, but the subject matter just didn't grab me in this one. So my rating is based on my enjoyment not the quality of the poems.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great piece, I enjoy how Morrissey writes, and it is refreshing to have a woman poet talk about the beauty of life, girlhood, and motherhood.

[Oward Bodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the poems needed a little more work.

#the52bookclub #13 TITLE IS TEN LETTERS OR LESS

[Eamonn O'Sullivan]

I think I might be a fan

[Roxie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5
Although I loved most of poems, I had a hard time rating this collection because it is not really about what the back claims. While some of the poems really do deal with balance and ecology, most just deal with the past. Yes, the back does say that Morrissey revisits "some of the great feats of human engineering", but it does so in a way that seems reminiscing, not analyzing. It brings the reader back to he past and not the past to engage with the present.

Make of that what you will. I will revisit the collection and perhaps enjoy it even more after knowing what awaits me.

[Sarah Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I would let you near
my brilliant daughter-
so far, in face, from dull,
that radiant, incandescent
are as shadows on the landscape
after staring at the sun."

A beautiful collection of poems that touch upon history, politics, architecture and nature. The Millihelen is about the launch of the Titanic from Belfast, A Very Dispaxic Child is about imagination and child's play. The May Fly tells the story of Lilian Bland, the first woman to design, build and fly her own aeroplane. My personal favourite is the storming 'On Balance,' a response to Philip Larkin and his old school misogyny.