A Dreaming by Andrew Martin (Shoals of Starlings Press)

A Dreaming is Andrew Martin’s fourth publication and follows in the footsteps of his debut collection Shoals of Starlings, which combined beautiful fractal imagery with powerful minimalist poems, ostensibly to do with birds but also suggesting strong psychological underpinnings. It was a masterly introduction to the work of an impressive contemporary poet/artist.

     A Dreaming is a single long poem using wordplay, word-association, alliteration and rhythmic dexterity to keep the ball rolling but it’s also considered and reflective. Chance associations meet careful editing and some of the imagery here is simply astonishing. Take the following by way of example:

          angels dream in black and white

          pigeons dream of peacocks

          kingfishers dream of clown fish

          wearing crowns

          starlings murmur in their sleep

          as they dream of the choreography

          dreamt up by storms

The last three lines here are mind-blowing!

This is a poem that build and builds and bears a lot of re-reading as the reader keeps finding new thoughts to ponder, be amazed by or simply overwhelmed by the imagery. It combines a melancholy underpinning with a joyful celebration of the world (the universe even) and everything in it and takes the idea of interconnectedness to new places:

          the hadron collider

          dreams of playing roulette

          places everything on black

          dark matter dreams it matters

          to someone in particular

          quantum physics only dreams

          when you’re not watching

          dictators dream of taking dictation

There is plenty of humour too, some of it of the laugh-out-loud variety, as in:

          toilet rolls

          dream of the dead sea scrolls dream

          of swiss cream rolls

          swiss cream rolls dream of rolly-pollies

          rolly-pollies dream of rope

          rope dreams of tapestries

Obviously the rhyme dictates the forward-flow here before swerving into the unpredictable ‘rope’ which takes us elsewhere yet again:

          central heating dreams of convection currents

          at the core of planets

          fractal dreams of jigsaw puzzles

          jigsaw puzzles dream of fitting in

As indicated above this is also a publication which combines words with images, in this case 14 landscape photographs which appear to have been digitally overlaid and which via this combination of construction are in tune with the writing processes involved in the production of the poem. Andrew Martin is a rare talent in being able to combine artforms in this manner as in many cases ‘illustrated poetry books’ appear to be just that and the disconnect between the forms is often a problem.

     There is a further dimension in Martin’s current explorations in that a live performance of A Dreaming, which I was fortunate enough to have experienced recently (a world premiere in Plymouth!), included an ambient soundscape by composer/producer Mark Allin (aka Riigs) with a reading of the poem together with stills of the images which follow on and gradually fade into the next picture. This may indeed be one way forward in the evolution of the art form(s) and although not entirely novel this was an impressive occasion. It will be interesting to see where Martin’s creative juices take him next. His role as a publisher of new poetry from the Plymouth region with Shoals of Starlings Press is exemplary. Meanwhile you can enjoy A Dreaming on streaming platforms.

Steve Spence 5^th June 2023