Poetry review: Life Without Air (2020) by daisy Lafarge.


For my first official post I wanted to give a review of Hastings-born poet Daisy Lafarge's Life Without Air collection. This was an interesting read for me from the moment I opened the book. Even the contents page drew me. You might ask why but whenever I pick up a new poetry pamphlet or collection for the first time, I like to examine the titles of the poems as it gives me intrigue. Life Without Air for instance includes a poem entitled 'Axiology' and as I had never come across that word before, I was intrigued into what the poem was about. Then there is a poem entitled 'Jennifer'. I wondered who Jennifer could be - her sister? Her friend? Her lover? Also, what is her story? These I discovered when I read the poem, but don't worry I won't spoil it for you!

Now 'Axiology' and 'Jennifer' are only two poems out of many. But they stand out from the others in many ways, as do they all. What Lafarge does with her poetry is she is able to carefully compose the structure of her poems to make them hers. I know that sounds stupid of me to say but by that I mean that her use of structure gives her work a unique style. The structure in some ways reflects her meanings too. For example the structure of 'axiology' - it just fits with the meaning of the poem and the meaning of axiology, which I later found out means 'The theory of value'¹ thanks to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) online.

Her use of language also has a unique style that draws me in as a read. in 'throttle song' I read the line 'and bleeds the rosy milk of planets'². Notice how she hasn't used blood for the bleeding but rather 'rosy milk'³. This only example of how she stands to me. If you read her collection you also have to look out for the cool illustrations and the (minimal) use of punctuation. I hope you decide to read it because trust me, it is a breathe of fresh air and I know Daisy Lafarge has said 'Life Without Air' but you will enjoy the read!

Thomas AJ.


¹ 'axiology, n.', Oxford English Dictionary online, accessed June 20, 2023, https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/14044?redirectedFrom=axiology#eid.

² Daisy Lafarge 'throttle song' in 'Life Without Air' (London: Granta, 2020), 64.

³ Daisy Lafarge 'throttle song', 64.



Bibliography:


Lafarge, Daisy. 'throttle song' in 'Life without air'. London: Granta, 2020.

Oxford English Dictionary Online. 'axiology, n.' Accessed June 20, 2023.

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