The Almond Tree

Michael Williamson was Reference Librarian at the National Library of Canada in Ottawa.

This is not an easily accessible sequence of poems even though there are, here and there, some exquisitely clear moments. Mr. Brown wisely provided a brief introduction, which at least gives a hint to the reader why so many of the poems don’t seem to be about anything but seem simply to unfold and meander along in a twisty-runny, vaguely self-transcendent way. Some impressions immediately spring to mind: mystical, spiritual, archaic, pantheistic, etc. — but nothing approaching a discernible narrative. The reason for this is that Mr. Brown derives his “main structural principle” from the mystic narrative of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, which, in a nutshell, is about the “Bardo” existence and about the condition of the mind between death and birth usually made manifest by the idea and personal description of a former existence. There have been many beautiful descriptions of these experiences by mystics and poets, so Mr. Brown deserves a close reading. He does achieve a measure of success with his personal incarnation of numinous experience:

The Almond Tree is a very soothing, gentle book that is a conundrum: on one hand a tableau of fluid, seminal images and metaphors; on the other, a baffling narrative. It is very difficult to figure out what is going on, so one just goes on and is carried along with the book’s undeniable current or flow. This is sophisticated poetry: dense and simple, archetypal and personal; it is also scattered with beautiful sounds and visual images: “I waited like loose kelp/swinging me.” Recommended and worth the effort and lack of effort.