Understanding Heaven by Stephen Guppy

Understanding Heaven Reviews

• 
  Philip Gordon

  In short: the poetry in this book is revelatory and amazing in all the right ways. Read it.
  
  At length:
  
  I was refreshingly surprised when I picked up this volume for a second try after reading Steve's first collection, 'Ghostcatcher'. I'd found his early batches of poems to be imagistic to a fault, but without much to say behind the imagery—his vocabulary was very particular, and I found it hard to engage with any of his subject matter. I'd leafed through 'Understanding Heaven' during my first year studying under him and didn't find it much of interest—the language was somewhat plain, and the subject matter mundane.
  
  I'm very glad I came back to it, however.
  
  What 'Understanding Heaven' does, and what I was ignorant of initially, is find a catharsis and realization in everyday subjects—to such a degree that it's almost staggering how Steve can pull amazing pieces out of the simplest things. He has a multi-part suit on a vasectomy, and somehow manages to make it deep, personal, and engaging. There was only one poem in the entire volume I felt didn't shine strongly (the one about Amelia Earhart), while far more blew me away with how inspirational they were.
  
  Steve's voice is definitely shining brightly in this collection—while I felt some of the poems went on just a /bit/ too long, for the most part he strides evenly between perfect line-lengths and an almost-conversational-but-not-quite voice that uses snippets of breathtaking vocabulary and specificity to draw the reader in. His poems conclusions felt like powerful punches delivered in the best school of deep imagery, but without the compulsory quality of someone like James Wright (who I love regardless).
  
  I'd highly recommend this book to anyone interested in being moved by the world around them—the fact that I put it down for being 'boring' once probably just shows that I wasn't ready for it. Tackling it with the notion that the material is presenting something worthwhile made me study the poems—and, without a great deal of effort, notice how amazing they were. Without hyperbole, almost every verse astounds in this collection, though I felt particularly moved by the entries chronicling the building of a dollhouse that Steve made for his daughter.
  
  I hope he publishes another volume soon—I'd love to see more like this.