ECLECTICA: The Collected Poems

This remarkable anthology - ECLECTICA - reveals the impulses that influenced and drove the poet during a creative lifetime spanning more than fifty years, beginning with the earliest declarations of a young man's earnest avowal of love. And it would be easy to dismiss this collection as simply the love poems of a young man to his wife for love is a theme which continues throughout, but as the poet matures more creative insights are revealed as the poet goes on to explore contemporary issues and subjects. When asked, 'What are poems for?' the poet replied, 'Perhaps they help people to express what they would otherwise find difficult.' 'ECLECTICA comprises four collections of poetry arranged largely in chronological order in this one volume. As the title suggests the poet draws his subjects and inspiration from a variety of sources and what makes this collection unique is that, whilst not consciously autobiographical it does reveal the development of the maturing poet. That is not to say that the poet's earliest work is in any way immature; indeed his earliest surviving poem written at age eighteen ends the first volume in the collection. Titled 'THE DENTIST' and written in blank verse it is an uncompromising condemnation of the failure of mankind to learn from and overcome the basic instinct of cruelty inherent in humankind. Thus the range of themes running through this anthology is wide and varied in style, from rhyming couplets and humorous verse to mini-epic and in the first three volumes they are grouped under headings which include (for example) THE WAR TO END WARS; THE LOVER; THE CYNIC; THE IDEALIST; CHILDHOOD; EN FAMILLE; etc and illustrate the range of the poet's intellectual enquiry. The poet also takes received articles of faith and questions them as in 'The Ghost', a bittersweet pastoral poem that revises the popular view we hold of nocturnal visitations by our forebears. Or 'Eden revisited - Eden reviled', which does not try to debunk the biblical story, but rather re-sets it in a contemporary and more frightening context. But the poet does nothing to undermine the basic tenets of Faith, and his own beliefs are sincerely held. Indeed his questions only serve to give validity to the perceptive insights of the reader. At another level those seeking comfort might find solace in 'Speed me on my Journey' from the 3rd collection or 'I Heard God' from the 1st. As the verses unfold the poet's own fears and attitudes are exposed. His protests about the damage to our environment caused by industrialisation began in the early 1970's; and his repeated concerns for the threat posed by the exponential growth of population - as in 'Earth Mother' in the 4th collection - have never been adequately addressed by successive governments around the world. But they are most eloquently argued in his early short poem 'Ahem! - Excuse me' dating from the 1st collection. From youth through to the final collection Mr Jackson's is a unique voice arising from awareness of the intense emotional crises that run through human endeavour and relationships. Like a Deity he looks with disbelief at the folly and frailty of humanity - as in 'The Jewel' - and poems from the earliest years expressing concern for the well-being of our environment resonate with later expressions of guilt over the legacy we are bequeathing to future generations, as for example 'Oh My Dear Child'. But there is humour and gentle whimsey throughout, particularly in the poems for his wife, family and friends. And if, like Blake he is true to his ideals, using poetry to mock and then raise the conscience of the world, then taken as a whole ECLECTICA presents us with a landscape of life's experience. Above all it is a paean to hope and the power of love.