With generosity of mind and spirit, Oliver James Lomax’ latest anthology of poems – The Dandelion Clocks – veritably springs from the page. Held in the much-adored Portico Library – where parts of Lomax’ work is currently being exhibited – Lomax read extracts from his latest collection, showcasing his lyrical agility and observational wit.
Throughout the event, that took place in November 2024, Lomax offered insights into his creative process, sharing anecdotes on the inception of particular poems – their time, their place, their insistence. Tender is the night of a political poet; pithy in their precision, his arguments are formed in the revelation of self, of community, of hope, of humour.
On the misty November evening, as the Christmas crowds passed us by, I felt very lucky to be amongst an audience of attentive listeners. As though entwined, a cadence of hilarity and heartbreak rose and fell across his readings – note ‘Free Range’ of God Missed The Last Bus And Walked Home or ‘Dementia Ward’ of Cloud Seeding Over Bolton. To my delight, the former still has me laughing.
Often reposeful, his poems express a carefulness, an intent. A verse may introduce one point of view to then end with another, bringing his reader to a moment of introspect and quiet. As in the case of Buying Back Your Gay Dad’s Shirt from A Sue Ryder, humour leads and then hands the baton over to delicate prose:
‘…But please, pay it no mind, because when I was dying, you were there, to clothe and feed every martyred word and window dress my feigned oblivion, without condition…’
As we enter this New Year and the January blues settle in, The Dandelion Clocks is the perfect book to lift our spirits.
By Charlotte Lanigan
