‘For Moviegoers: New and Selected Poems’ by Nicholas Hasluck

Poetry, like most art forms, is a kind of performance. The words used are called poetry when what is said, based on some personal or deeply felt experience, could not be said in prose. In the end, the crucial question is whether the poet has anything worth saying and has said it well. Poetry can tap into layers of experience below the conscious levels of thought and feeling. It can open up a more comprehensive vision of reality than is constantly before us in the workaday world. There is something of this in the ways of the cinema and in the desire of moviegoers, enthralled by the shimmering make-believe world on the screen, to venture into a parallel universe, a kingdom where apparitions float before our eyes, where dreams seem real, and meanings are what we make of them. Like poetry, it is an illusion. But when we go back to the outside world, we are often profoundly affected by what we have seen. For Moviegoers: New and Selected Poems by Nicholas Hasluck shows the way in which poetry, like enthralling movies, can open up memorable layers of thought and feeling, and other versions of reality. A prize-winning writer, the author of 14 novels and 3 previous works of poetry, this new book is a gem.