On the Ground

Laurence Steven is Chairman of the English Department at Laurentian
University and author of Dissociation and Wholeness in Patrick White’s
Fiction.

On the Ground is an appropriate title for this collection of poems. Each
hardly half a page long, written in free verse without rhyme or
traditional metrical rhythm, these poems are based on an eclectic
combination of the poet’s personal impressions, sensations, and
emotions. Most are in the first person and some are reactions to
personal experiences. For example, “No Not Cancer,” dedicated to the
poet’s father, describes the emotional and physical pain suffered by a
hospital patient.

The poems present streams of consciousness; the poet’s emotions and
thoughts are combined with disparate physical and sensual images of
commonplace objects. Flanagan uses tactile, auditory, and visual imagery
to create terse, evocative descriptions. “Bands of Colour”
exemplifies this powerful mingling of disjointed ideas: “Bands of
colour which / fuse optically into one. / The intelligent dryness of the
leaves against / dead grass.” In this poem sexuality, colour,
headlights, guilt, and cockroaches, among other images, combine to
immerse the reader in a river of random, intense thought. There are
poems, though, that are a more usual joining of emotions and sensations
caused by one thought or event. Here also Flanagan maintains his ability
to carry the reader beyond conventional perceptions, as in this strange
tilt in “Summer Is Almost Over”: “Summer is almost over / the
wall.”

Though some of these poems are too obscure and fragmentary, others gain
their effectiveness through their concise and potent diction.
Connotations overflow from compelling nodes of image and idea, thwarting
the reader who wants to glide across the surface. To gain insight into
what Flanagan offers, the exploring reader must dive deep into the verse
to search out the relationships that carry poetic meaning.