ros barber

how things are on thursday

Orbis issue 133, Summer 2005
Faith in Words: review by Sarah Law

Ros Barber’s collection is a beautifully crafted one. She finds a natural voice in familiar rhythms and forms, and to some extent is a 'traditional' contemporary poet along the lines of Larkin, with some Duffy influenced pieces too. There is a quiet poignancy in many of poems (Soup, Who Forgets); wry humour in others (I loved The Gentle Way); impressively controlled and sparely-presented horror in still others (I Filled the Bath with Coty L'Aimant; see Orbis 126). There is a sense of accuracy and accomplishment in everything Barber has written here.

But together with this linguistic elegance, Barber explores a darker world of what cannot easily be articulated: the things which deprive us of control - emotional and physical abuse, serious illness, human isolation behind the facade of peer support. Often these situations are elided with willful silence: "Because as long as no-one says it, it isn't true" (What Gives). These poems indicate what festers below the surface, and attempt to acknowledge the almost unspeakable, in poetic language, and Barber's project has a redemptive effect. A certain forgotten word in Why Sleep is Dangerous, we are told, "...opens castles. / Undoes curses, and men that were turned / into beasts turn back into men when / you say it." But this poem is a myth, a fairy story covering a bruise. Barber's poems don't offer false dreams of hope, but they frequently convey a bravery and sensitivity which are hopeful in themselves.

- Sarah Law

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