‘Poetry for Misinterpretation’: Ilis Trudie Palmer
Book Review
Sometimes you read a book, a story, a line, or a phrase, and you think, in wonder, ‘I know what that feels like! I wonder why I couldn’t put That into words like these?’
That’s the feeling I get when I read EVERYONE of the 44 pithy cameos that comprise Ilis Trudie Palmer ‘s ‘Poetry For Misinterpretation.’
‘When does two become one — - Is it when he says, turn down the moon So its light offers no competition to the beauty of your face the wonder of your being, reborn in grace…’ ‘Dimming The Moon (A poem about new love) Ilis Trudie Palmer
In my teacher’s brain, I would like to classify these drops of moonlight, and slot them neatly into headings and subheadings, calling them poems on love, beauty, and nature.
But they refuse to be categorized. How can one categorize themes as diverse as independence, a bee visiting a flower, an ascendant moon, and smiles?
‘And smiles, I love smiles, giving and receiving — ever pleasing: whether pearly white or tobacco stained brown, I gladly accept every single one.’ ‘It’s the little Things That Please (Every Single Time) Ilis Trudie Palmer
What does one say of lines so exquisite that the reader alternates between goose bumps, and eyes misting over, as when Ilis Trudie Palmer writes in a cascade of tumbling metaphors, in the very first poem in her anthology, called Slow Glow:
‘images of our soul searching for their song’ ‘setting fires ablaze, trailing a path to our blackened heart burnt from the mistakes of our tormented past…’ ‘Slow Glow’ Ilis Trudie Palmer
In her own inimitable way, she admits that things happen in one’s life that one has no control over, but that we need to have our own backs, that we need to care for ourselves, that we need to give ourselves time to heal:
‘how the body heals itself, if given the chance to’ ‘Transformation (Time and Attention) Ilis Trudie Palmer
In a delightful celebration of love and lust and everything in between, she revels in the physicality of physiques, the chemistry that informs it, and the fizz that results. She laughs about the man who asked her ‘Derisively, are you male…’
and she declares,
‘if my illness is sex-on-the-brain, let me suffer and die over and over again.’ ‘The Joys of a Sex-Addled Brain ( Befuddled Me) Ilis Trudie Palmer
The impish humour with which she relates how mystified people were when she laughed out aloud in a public place, is an example of how she lives life on her own terms, ‘Laughing out Loud (Be careful where you do it)’ She then explains to them,
‘it’s just this thing it keeps tickling me I need to check my clothing and remove it quickly’ Ilis Trudie Palmer
Meandering through the entire anthology, in a treacle-filled river of sensuous imagery are poems like ‘Fondle Me Fearlessly’, ‘Big O’s and Little Ones’, ‘Bliss Upon Bliss’, ‘Touch Me Just So’ ‘Impure Essence (What’s love got to do with it)…
‘Rub me gently for I am the lamp with the genie inside Your genius.’ Ilis Trudie Palmer
Her declaration of independence runs bugle-clear and loud:
‘getting me back in line, easy; whipping me with your rod of correction while I scream and I come — to the altar of your love. stupid me! lost in the heat and the smoke as you lurk behind dark corners, blending with long shadows; you crack your whip while I watch it go limp, the spell’s broken finally, you no longer own me.’ Ilis Trudie Palmer
Enhancing the words, are the poet’s own photographs and artwork; intense, vivid, and self-explanatory. They lovingly bracket and highlight the words and verses and add to their flavour.
I have read and reviewed every one of the 44 poems that make up this charming collection. But the paucity of space will not permit me to expound on each of them, as I would love to.
‘Poetry for Misinterpretation’, like Ilis herself, is a celebration of life, love, and laughter, of raindrops and moonbeams, sunrays, and sensual delight. It is an affirmation of the value of togetherness and the need and necessity of private spaces, boundaries, and limits. It is about physiques and chemistry, and how biology works on both.
It can be interpreted. Or misinterpreted. Or both.
It is about the blessing of being alive. In every sense of the term.
ⓒ 2022 Suma Narayan. All Rights Reserved.
Shoutout to two wonderful writers who have encapsulated the wisdom of ages into a brief, and elegant exposition of what is life, and how should one live it: