Beyond This Dark House

Guy Gavriel Kay is one of my favorite fantasy novelists. Now, having read this short book, but not yet having had time for it to sink in, he threatens to become one of my favorite poets. It is not that I liked every poem in this book. Some were not to my taste. But many of the poems were very good and several were outstanding.In the opening poem, "Night Drive: Elegy," the narrator remembers his father. There are a multitude of poems written in memory of parents or friends, so that sometimes it seems that there is little room to add anything worthwhile to their collective weight. For me, Guy Gavriel Kay has done so. For the most part, the poem is written plainly. The details are specific, their impact universal: The drive back home, just the two of us, end of a work day. He'd steer with one hand at twelve o'clock and an elbow out the open window. No one ever born had hands I'd ever rather feel enclosing mine. Then. Now. The day the son we named for him was born.The book includes quite a few poems about love that are seemingly autobiographical, of which I think my favorite is the closing poem, "Finding Day." There are also a number of assorted mainstream poems, one of which, "If I Should Fly Across The Sea Again," I loved.And then, appropriately for a fantasy novelist, there are a number of fantastical poems. These range from variations on old myths, to poems where the strangeness seemed to be the author's own invention. I particularly liked "Being Orpheus," "Medea," "Various Things," "At The Death of Pan," which has humor in it, "Hero," and "Shalott." But more than any of these, I loved "Guinevere at Almesbury," a masterful revisiting of the worn-out tales of Camelot: There was no place to hide. I was brought into another life and began to live with grief, for Arthur knew. He knew me as he knew each single star that swung about like pointers to his north. ... I see them on a forest path, riding together. Dappled, autumn leaves, a slanting sun just risen. Or in battle side by side with bloodied swords, in the hard north. Or talking a winter night away beside a fire in a kingdom that has not fallen.A poem very different from the opening poem, but both of them superb, poems to be treasured and to which to return.

I feel that the power behind Guy Gavriel Kay's fiction can be traced to his ability to blend a fantasy world that allows his reader escape with a reality that makes that world tangible and credible. In "Beyond This Dark House", a collection of poems by Kay, a similar pattern ensues. For, while he constructs poems that span from descriptions of extended periods of time to snapshots of moments, and that embody perspectives on mythical archetypes as well as interpretations of contemporary banalities, he offers an opportunity for the reader to become lost in the beautiful intricacy of his composition, while discovering a personal reality. Because, moreso than his commanding fiction, Kay's poems invite a connection to the writer and, by extension, an important view to the web of human experience and spirit. Composed from Kay's heart, and masterfully edited by George Amabile, Beyond This Dark House is an excellent addition to a poet's repertoire of readings, and a palatable collection for anyone who values literary acumen in its various forms.

I have all of Kay's novels and bought this out of curiosity. Not being a serious poetry fan, I just browsed through it for an hour. Many poems seem to come from Kay's life and are based here in the real world. There were five or ten that particularly resonated for me and I enjoyed those. For $12, this book will best appeal to Kay collectors or serious poetry buffs.

I am a reader and admirer of Guy Gavriel Kay's novels, which I find to be wonderful reads due to his vivid imagination and his lyrical use of words. I was surprised to discover that this author is also a poet. For fans of his, who might shy away from poetry, don't pass this up. His poems have a haunting, quiet quality that really gets under your skin. He writes about things all of us can relate to. This is a masterpiece by a truly gifted writer.

I've been a fan of Mr Kay's fantasy novels for many years, and was delighted to finally get my hands on his collection of poetry. I had high hopes, from reading short pieces of poems in his novels, and I was not disappointed.Glorious poetry! One to keep, to read and re-read.