lokster71's review against another edition
5.0
This is the third collection of poems by Daniel Sluman. It's pretty damn good. It might be the most personal of the collections in the T S Eliot Poetry Prize shortlist, alongside C+unto and Othered Poems.
Regular readers of my reviews will know that I fall back on Anna Akhmatova's 'Requiem' for the quote that emphasises the role of poet as witness. Here Daniel Sluman gives lays bare his life for us to witness. The stark reality of a year in the life of a disabled person living in modern Britain. It is also a love story.
It is, effectively, a journal of the year 2016 when he and his wife, Emily, found themselves unable to safely climb the stairs to their bedroom. It meant that they spent 24hrs a day on their sofa with only a single window through which they could watch the outside world. It is divided into four sections, each named after a season of the year, starting with autumn. Sluman introduces us to the routines of pain management and survival.
The sections also feature photographs that make this more than just a poetry collection and more an artwork. It's a route Caleb Femi went down with Poor. Indeed, you could make a double-bill of Poor and Single Window to get an insight into what modern Britain looks like if you are on the edge of it as opposed to being seen as fully part of it.
The poetry is fantastic. It is brutally honest and straightforward. It subjects pain, loneliness, love, family, need and shows us how time slips and slides away from you in their circumstances. How the morphine for the pain steals time from you and how the whole process makes you feel like you're not yourself. That you are being robbed of yourself.
It is also a love story. The relationship between Emily and Daniel, despite everything that each of them suffers from, is the core of the collection. There's one section where Daniel describes Emily oiling Daniel's stump. It is one of the most moving parts of the collection, for me.
"...this is how it feels
to have your trauma held
i tell you your kindness kills me
your grace kills me."
None of that though stops us from seeing the difficulties they are facing.
This collections shows us the reality of a life that we would not see. It is a fantastic collection and I hope you get a chance to read it. Because it is worth it.
Regular readers of my reviews will know that I fall back on Anna Akhmatova's 'Requiem' for the quote that emphasises the role of poet as witness. Here Daniel Sluman gives lays bare his life for us to witness. The stark reality of a year in the life of a disabled person living in modern Britain. It is also a love story.
It is, effectively, a journal of the year 2016 when he and his wife, Emily, found themselves unable to safely climb the stairs to their bedroom. It meant that they spent 24hrs a day on their sofa with only a single window through which they could watch the outside world. It is divided into four sections, each named after a season of the year, starting with autumn. Sluman introduces us to the routines of pain management and survival.
The sections also feature photographs that make this more than just a poetry collection and more an artwork. It's a route Caleb Femi went down with Poor. Indeed, you could make a double-bill of Poor and Single Window to get an insight into what modern Britain looks like if you are on the edge of it as opposed to being seen as fully part of it.
The poetry is fantastic. It is brutally honest and straightforward. It subjects pain, loneliness, love, family, need and shows us how time slips and slides away from you in their circumstances. How the morphine for the pain steals time from you and how the whole process makes you feel like you're not yourself. That you are being robbed of yourself.
It is also a love story. The relationship between Emily and Daniel, despite everything that each of them suffers from, is the core of the collection. There's one section where Daniel describes Emily oiling Daniel's stump. It is one of the most moving parts of the collection, for me.
"...this is how it feels
to have your trauma held
i tell you your kindness kills me
your grace kills me."
None of that though stops us from seeing the difficulties they are facing.
This collections shows us the reality of a life that we would not see. It is a fantastic collection and I hope you get a chance to read it. Because it is worth it.
thegothlibrarian_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
serendipitysbooks's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.5
Single Window is a collection of poetry interspersed with photos, a slender volume that packs a mighty punch. It is an unflinching portrayal of the reality of living with disability and centres on a year when the author and his girlfriend were effectively confined to their couch for 24 hours a day, cut off from the world except for what they could see through a single window. I suspect many readers will be shocked by the reality depicted in this collection. The power of some of the lines took my breath away. Yet somehow, amazingly, this collection is not all trauma and pain. Moments of beauty, joy, and especially love, have also been exquisitely captured.
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