4 out of 5 stars
There is a lot of talk about a person rights at the moment, in particular when it comes to free speech. One person’s right to express their opinion may mean that another person is offended by that opinion. We may think that we are free, but there is all manner of restrictions on what we can do and say, and it seems to be the way that our so-called freedoms are being eroded at the moment.
In his latest collection, Edward Ragg is considering what that means for us as an individual. He has lived for a while in China a country known for its poor record on human rights, mass surveillance of the population and often brutal suppression of the population.
His poetic response to this is wide-ranging there are poems on his rights, one on article 29.1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, armed robbery, the reclamation of irony and even one by Trump.
The earth is suddenly bright and the rain
Reflects what light it must, is more vividly
There for the thick crusts of experience
The poems vary in length, metre and style so you go from reading a dense poem to one that does not lose any of the power in its brevity. I thought that this was definitely his best collection yet.
Three (ish) Favourite Poems
The Undetected Path
In Flight
The Question
In the Climate of Tautology
Confirm Humanity
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