posted on 13 Nov 2024

Administer the Laughing Gas by Hayley Frances

I don’t read a lot of poetry these days, partly because I don’t spend enough time being quiet and reflective, which is how I tend to think poetry needs to be appreciated. I was nevertheless intrigued by the title of this debut collection and a review on the front cover by Joelle Taylor that described it as ‘Gorgeous and terrifying’. 

The author uses poetry as a therapeutic medium and is currently the first Poet in Residence at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital.  Her deeply personal introduction provides some context ‘written in silence and isolation’ this collection is a way to translate her grief at going into early labour and then losing her baby daughter eight years ago. 

The subject matter of each poem is understandably raw as we travel alongside her through the birth experience and subsequently with her visceral sorrow. I liked the way that she punctuated each section of the collection with some further context, because it allowed me to pause and try to digest what had gone before. Nevertheless, I tried reading it in one sitting which was not a good idea, because it was too overwhelming. I decided to leave a bit of space and then to revisit some of the individual poems that I found particularly moving.

Another way that I decided to respond was to try to view these in terms of their structure and vocabulary – in other words, how did they work as written poems? Does the form and the language used touch me aesthetically and emotionally beyond the subject matter? On a second reading I decided that ‘Promise isn’t a name’ was the most beautifully expressed for me. Every verse paints a vivid picture with carefully chosen words, my favourite is probably the second one:

‘My house couldn’t home her. I lit a fire

In the garden instead, poked at it and fed 

It with hay. The sky broke with the weight

Of un-cried losses, and doused the ground

With salty deaths that starved the burn’.

Is poetry the most powerful way to express the profound emotions of the author about such a poignant subject? Obviously, the answer is yes to this last question, because she has chosen to do this so well. I would suggest that some might work on even more levels if performed aloud and set to appropriate music.

I recommend this beautifully fierce collection of poems published by Verve Poetry Press, an award- winning organization originally set up to meet ‘a need for the vibrant poetry scene in Brum to find a way to present itself to the poetry world via publication’. It should be available to order from your local independent bookshop, if not already on their shelves. 

Karen Argent

November 2024