Local hero and 'Bull in a china shop', Leon the Poet, gets more reviews for his new book...
Colchester poet Leon Helsby (aka Leon The Poet) has got around to publishing his first volume of poetry under the lengthy title of ‘Sometimes I’m the bull, Sometimes I’m the China shop’. (The capital ‘c’ doesn’t refer to the country of China by the way, it’s just typesetting nonsense). This, writhing, jangly bag of variety has been his companion, burden and pride for a few years now. In and out of open mics and showcase evenings, he’s opened it up to let spill the multitude of his thoughts: fear, anger, joy and humour. It’s all here.
At ninety poems, it’s a hell of a read and one gets the impression that filtered down, it would make a more digestible tome. However, it is quite possible that there is method here. This volume could quite possibly be a way of ending a phase of Leon’s writing; a collecting together of all that has been and therefore a clearing of the decks so to speak.
The writing is confessional and disarmingly honest, dealing with subject matter that has personally affected the poet himself. There’s no pretention here, he simply doesn’t take inspiration from the abstract – he needs to have felt it before putting pen to paper.
In Madness, Leon refers to a schizophrenia sufferer as being ‘buried underneath rubble eternally'. The close family relation at '10 years old, chasing friends through cornfields’ beautifully juxtaposes natural beauty with man-made ruins. Stunning one-liners such as 'Indifference is like bleeding to death in a library' (from A shrug is a silent shove) show us the brewing excellence that Leon’s poems promise. In There are so many things I’ll never be, a list become a simple but compelling device to engage the audience and one suddenly realises the open-endedness of our thoughts: how many others things will I never be?! Leon can only spark your journey off, he can’t give you all the answers. Topical satire on the subject of the English Channel migrant boats is dished out with the chillingly harsh 'they should play the tune to Match Of The Day' as they attempt their hazardous crossings. It’s a vision that at once throws up revulsion and applause at such a keenly expressed observation. Lifestyle choice is a hurricane of sarcasm about the comment from recent Tory Home Secretary Suella Braverman that to becoming homeless is a choice. It’s an hilarious performance piece and bares the very best of Leon’s to-the-point approach.
This whole collection feels like a warning shot of things to come. The scattergun approach to thematic writing and adherence to no rules whatsoever but his own give his prose storytelling style direction and power but hidden beneath all this is a rich store of beautiful phrasing. In order to break from the pack, Leon will need to slim things down in his next publication and give the language-intense knockout blow that is, with all probability, coming our way.
Review by Peter Turner, The Book Service, Colchester.
You can pick up a copy of 'Sometimes I'm the Bull, Sometimes I'm the China shop' from most good book stores or order a copy direct from Earth Island Books.
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