Asylum

by Sean Borodale

Like his two previous books, Asylum was written live on-site; in this case deep within the caves, mines, quarries, geological and archaeological horizons of the Mendip Hills in Somerset. The poems stage modes of exile in the darkness of earth, enacting solidarity with those others who have made their journey into the underworld – Dante, Orpheus, blinded Oedipus, Euripides. These are semi-dramatic voicings, staged across the thirty-mile theatre of the Mendip each an act of recovery, of rescue. Traversing the broken, collapsed, eroded stones, looking for voices that express the damaged and the damned, Asylum pays homage to the darkness of the human its memories and ancient histories, and to its more contemporary signals – internationally owned quarries, abandoned coal mines, decommissioned Cold War bunkers. As with Bee Journal and Human Work , these poems take on the nature of the experience recorded. Written blind, as it were, the diction here becomes mineral, deeply tactile – hard and granular, alert to sound in its own blackness. Descending underground with the poet is to enter a theatre of heightened senses, and these extraordinary poems feel both unearthed and unearthly.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[Andrada · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard about Sean Borodale’s Asylum poetry collection while listening to a BBC Arts and Ideas podcast entitled What lies beneath that dealt with all manner of underground places, from caves full of Neanderthal art to fatbergs, and during which the poet himself was invited to speak about his experience visiting caves, abandoned bunkers and disused mines to write poetry inspired by them. I thought it was a very interesting hands-on approach to poetry. Rather than waiting for inspiration to strike, setting out to record one’s experiences in poems.

Reading up on Borodale, I learnt this is his modus operandi: it’s the same approach he took with his other two poetry collections, Human Work and Bee Journal. I decided I wanted to read Asylum the most and was lucky enough to receive it as a birthday gift from a British friend just last week.

I quite liked the poems which evoke a palpable blindness and focus more on the sensory rather than the visual. They have a tactile, sonorous quality, but at the same time, caves and darkness evoke a sense of gloom and anxiety in the poet. He clearly associates them with the underworld, death and the deprivation of light which I found a bit disappointing as for me they have always been places of awe rather than fear (I blame Jules Verne for this).

Apart from this one minor complaint, I quite enjoyed the collection and I wouldn’t mind reading his other works.

[Xavier Roelens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Deze bundel beschrijft een wereld waar ik normaal niets mee te maken heb: de wereld van de geoloog die geregeld in grotten op ontdekking gaat en daar archeologische sporen ontdekt. Deze gedichten zijn geschreven met de zintuigen op scherp.
Maar daar houdt het bijzondere ook op voor mij. De gedichten zijn me als gedichten te statisch, de taal is me als taal te eenvoudig. Veel 'black' in de bundel, soms gecombineerd met 'hole'. Veel 'sound', soms eens afgewisseld met 'noise' of 'silence'. Hier en daar wat 'mud' ook. Er is angst om uit te glijden, wat begrijpelijk is voor een geoloog. Maar ik mis dat.

[Kelsey Hennegen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many of his poems start with these sort of declarative, unabashed, direct opens. Often in really simple language. Only a few words, comprising their own stanza. The sort of thing that seems exactly the what a workshop might veto. All the more reason why I find that sort of power through simplicity compelling. The play between dark and light, the act of descent, the natural world... all incredibly striking, evocative, rich.

[Sam Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving swiftly up the ranks of my favourite living poets.

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite of Borodale's poetry books so far. Dense, muscular poetry with such stunning and unexpected imagery. Love it.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

"What is this odd sensation?

Why do I feel more invisible, mere memory as I dip under stone?"

This collection of poems are all written 'in situ' and are therefore uniquely able to place you into quiet undiscovered spaces. Borodale does a fantastic job of capturing that sometimes magical feeling of being a small part of a much larger and more wonderful thing.

I come back to this collection again and again.