Isabelle Thompson reviews Ostriches: Ten Poems about My Dad by Jeanette Burton (Candlestick Press, 2024)
In a break from their usual short anthologies, Candlestick Press have published this sequence of poems by a single author. Jeanette Burton’s poems are a love letter to her dad, at once humorous and heartfelt. Her great achievement is that these poems move beyond the personal; all of us who are lucky enough to have a loving father figure can see parts of our dads reflected in these pages.
Many of the poems paint fathers as protectors, saviours even. In her introduction, Burton describes her dad as “a fully-fledged superhero” – and yet, there’s an acknowledgement, too, of the limitations of a parent’s reach, of the times they cannot save us. ‘Poem in which my dad thinks Armageddon is only moments away’ describes the speaker (who one senses as interchangeable with the poet herself) and her relationship with her father’s repeated East Midlands phrases in times of difficulty:
[…] although an asteroid could be hurtling towards us,
although we may only have seconds left, I wait for my dad
to sit beside me, whisper in my ear, dunna wittle, it’ll be reet.
Ostriches also explores how dads (and men more generally) are able to show love – the awkwardness that a certain brand of masculinity imposes on expressions of affection. ‘Poem in which I recount the finding of my dad’s love letter to my mum in the style of a Ronnie Corbett monologue’ is a typical example of Burton’s lightness of touch, the way in which she uses humour to avoid the saccharine. “Dear Andrea, I hope you had a lovely time on your holiday to Ilfracombe,” begins the letter. “Now, as you can imagine with such a tantalising start, I was eager to devour the rest of the contents, be witness to […] my dad’s declaration of love,” continues the daughter. And yet, in the revelation that the father’s letter to his soon-to-be wife is largely centred around concern that she wasn’t caught up in traffic on her journey to Ilfracombe, a practicality, protectiveness and deep care is revealed.
Jeanette Burton’s poems are a love letter to her dad, at once humorous and heartfelt
What makes these poems relevant, and special, to a wide readership, is the way in which Burton uses her own father as a stand-in for all loving fathers. ‘I contemplate the afterlife whilst watching an episode of Only Fools and Horses with my dad’ gently and wittily explores the idea that “maybe we don’t come back / as ourselves, maybe it’s just our best bits, our lovable parts / passed on to someone or something”. It suggests that we will always be able to find parts of our loved ones reflected in the people we meet, even after we’ve lost them.
‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ (first published by The Friday Poem, read it here) describes a trip to the theatre where mother and daughter are surprised to see a “chap” who “is the absolute spit of […] dad”:
[…] We examine
this man, this imposter father in the stalls,
until, finally he turns, smiles and waves up to us.
It is dad!
The poet resolves this comical mystery, of course, but it remains poignant that it’s in these poems about the universality of dads that their fallibility is also touched on:
We laugh, but then I think of the future, near,
far, whenever, watching another Wilde
in another theatre where I will see him again,
in the circle, or up in the gods, and I will want
him to turn, smile, wave down to me forever.
A true father figure looms large in life; he seems invincible and always able to protect us. Burton’s poetry confirms and celebrates this, yet holds at the same time an understanding that the man behind the superhero cape is mortal and fragile. These are carefully balanced, funny and tender poems for anyone fond of their dad. Dad, if you’re reading this, I love you.
Isabelle Thompson holds an MA in creative writing from Bath Spa University. She has been published or has work forthcoming in a range of magazines including The Interpreter’s House, Stand and The New Welsh Review. She was the winner of the 2022 Poets and Players Competition and a runner up in the 2021 Mslexia Poetry Competition. She tweets @IzzyWithTheCats.
