foggy_rosamund's review
5.0
Savage Tales is a collection much concerned with blank space, or with silence: often the page holds only a single sentence, and runs in conversation with a title at the bottom right. The title serves as a sort of footnote, giving context to the rest of the piece. There are around 180 very short poems in this book, organised into nine different sections, ranging from "The Artist and his [sic] Work" and "Campus Poems" to "Wolf Fables". I found this collection strange, compelling, readable, and both illusive and immensely illuminating. Bergin's voice has always been original, but her original thinking is particularly obvious here, as she breaks the conventions of traditional poetry books, and writes something that's challenging and imaginative. This book is also very enjoyable: Bergin has a self-deprecating humour and an easy wit. When I describe something as "challenging", it might suggest that it's very serious all the time, but a lot of this book made me laugh. Bergin deals with what it means to be a writer, with teaching writing, and with our understanding of our subconscious through fables, dreams and stories. The fragments draw me back to read again and again, their simple, clear style illuminating something surprising. Here is one of my favourites:
The bus pulls up and the doors open. On clamber the philosophers in their black eye makeup. The mothers and the toddlers wait behind. The toddlers wave goodbye to the bus's windows with padded gloves. One calls hello! by mistake. They still know nothing of separation. The bus moves off and all the mothers break apart.
- The School Bus
And, a few pages later:
Out walking by the river I become irritable with everyone's chatter as if they're talking in the cinema. What's that called?
-An Outing
I really enjoyed being taken on this journey through Bergin's thoughts. This is probably not a collection for people who don't read a lot of poetry because it builds on poetic conventions in order to break them, but it's irresistible for those who do.
The bus pulls up and the doors open. On clamber the philosophers in their black eye makeup. The mothers and the toddlers wait behind. The toddlers wave goodbye to the bus's windows with padded gloves. One calls hello! by mistake. They still know nothing of separation. The bus moves off and all the mothers break apart.
- The School Bus
And, a few pages later:
Out walking by the river I become irritable with everyone's chatter as if they're talking in the cinema. What's that called?
-An Outing
I really enjoyed being taken on this journey through Bergin's thoughts. This is probably not a collection for people who don't read a lot of poetry because it builds on poetic conventions in order to break them, but it's irresistible for those who do.
clara_mai's review
2.5
On the drive home the feeling in my mouth started to come back.
Apart from a brief section of full-length poems at the end, this collection is made up of one fragment per page. The majority of these fragments consist of one sentence (see example above), at most a short scene, two to four lines of dialogue. Some of these fragments are quite striking and manage to evoke an interesting image or an unsettling feeling, which is an impressive achievement in such few words. Tara Bergin utilizes word play in a fun way and I enjoyed how she structures her fragments into thematic sections - one revolving around the wolf, one around teaching... I especially liked the part called "Four Dances", it contains some longer descriptions and has an arc that veers into darkness by the end. Unfortunately, a lot of fragments also fell flat for me. A good amount felt like throwaway, cliché phrases that you would find in an "Instagram-poetry" collection (I wish I was the sort of person who didn't wish they were a different person), even though otherwise Bergin's writing (luckily!) doesn't fit that field. Others consisted of quotes by other writers and/or philosophers and I didn't feel like they were powerful enough to justify taking up a whole page. Both of these feel like filler and I think this collection would have much more impact if they hadn't been in cluded. So, overall a bit of a mixed bag, although I appreciate the concept and themes. The handful of longer poems at the end were really good, and I would be interested in reading more poetry by Tara Bergin in the future.
Apart from a brief section of full-length poems at the end, this collection is made up of one fragment per page. The majority of these fragments consist of one sentence (see example above), at most a short scene, two to four lines of dialogue. Some of these fragments are quite striking and manage to evoke an interesting image or an unsettling feeling, which is an impressive achievement in such few words. Tara Bergin utilizes word play in a fun way and I enjoyed how she structures her fragments into thematic sections - one revolving around the wolf, one around teaching... I especially liked the part called "Four Dances", it contains some longer descriptions and has an arc that veers into darkness by the end. Unfortunately, a lot of fragments also fell flat for me. A good amount felt like throwaway, cliché phrases that you would find in an "Instagram-poetry" collection (I wish I was the sort of person who didn't wish they were a different person), even though otherwise Bergin's writing (luckily!) doesn't fit that field. Others consisted of quotes by other writers and/or philosophers and I didn't feel like they were powerful enough to justify taking up a whole page. Both of these feel like filler and I think this collection would have much more impact if they hadn't been in cluded. So, overall a bit of a mixed bag, although I appreciate the concept and themes. The handful of longer poems at the end were really good, and I would be interested in reading more poetry by Tara Bergin in the future.
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