Reviews & Letters
Songs for Gaia (book and CD) by Brian Lee
Reviewed by Victoria Earle
From Caduceus issue 69. Autumn 2006
Songs for Gaia is a potent and haunting cycle of poems
that celebrate the spirit of the Earth and the divine
feminine. A series of songs, prayers and laments, it
is essentially one poem woven with diverse threads from
ancient and modern worlds, from real and mythological
realms.
Poet Brian Lee, formerly the music reviewer for Caduceus,
is influenced by many paths, particularly shamanic and
folk traditions from around the globe. He draws on myths,
such as that of Sedna, the Eskimo goddess of the Waters,
yet while the poem embraces familiar archetypes, it
remains fresh and raw.
One of the aspects I most loved about Songs for Gaia
is that it places Mother Earth firmly in the modern
world. Indeed Lee wrote the poem in London so it is
fed by the sights, sounds and smells of that city. Though
it is filled with images of nature and the elements.
Gaia is equally present in the traffic systems and she
is in the weather patterns.
for you are there our lady
in every telephone number
in every bud
in the silence at the heart of every waterfall
And:
yours is the city,
its signs
carved in light
its jewelled shop fronts
of mercury and sodium,
amber and neon
our lady
the very air is your skin
dancing with raindrops
Lee's work seems to have an important message here:
that we do not have to seek out Nature to experience
wildness or to sense spirit. She is everywhere, animating
everything - including streetlights and subways - if
only we can stop and notice.
Songs for Gaia explores the current ecological crisis.
Lee refers to 'lost forests', 'absent birds', and 'skies
ever duller' while humanity exists in an 'arid semi
wakefulness'. However, it is by no means an 'eco-doom'
piece. Its aim, he says is 'not to preach but to remind
people of their connection with Nature, of their own
dreaming, to remind ourselves that we are in fact part
of Nature'.
Despite being a serious work it has a light and joyful
quality and also contains some delightful flashes of
humour:
our lady I do not ask for your forgiveness
only mists to hide me
and a bottle of something
to take the edge off
for a short while
and I would be yours then
yours to serve you
just until the end of the month
when my cheque comes
Lee became inspired to write Songs for Gaia during a
short period between 1998 and 1999. Despite keen interest
from publishers, he chose to wait. This turned out to
be a wise move for in the intervening years the publishing
industry and printing technology made a quantum leap
and he was able to self-publish the work through his
company Naked Light. This meant he could present the
poem exactly as he envisioned it. It is beautifully
produced and illustrated and is accompanied by a CD
on which Lee reads the poem in two versions, one with
and one without music.
This is an inspired idea because Songs for Gaia is equally
powerful as a spoken work. For the music Lee has collaborated
with Paul Cheneour, who is influenced by many musical
and spiritual traditions including Middle Eastern, Sufi
and Mexican. The flutes evoke and enhance the poem's
imagery beautifully without overpowering Lee's voice.
I was fortunate enough to see Brian and Paul perform
together live in London recently and it was a magical
experience: if you have the chance to see them, go!
Humanity has a deep need for beauty but it must be relevant
to our lives or it is meaningless. For many people poetry
is hard to grasp because it tends to be insular and
far removed from their own experience. Brian Lee demonstrates
how poetry can fulfil our need for both beauty and connection.
By placing the Goddess in the modern world and the mundane,
he awakens the reader to the fact that She is with us
always. This timely and inspiring work deserves a wide
audience.
Reprinted with permission
from Caduceus issue 69. Autumn 2006
Review in Sacred Hoop #54 Winter 2006
Reviewer: Jan Morgan Wood.
Songs for Gaia by Brian Lee
This work is a gentle evocation of the ancient sacred
goddess embodied in the modern world. She is viewed
from many perspectives: from technology ('whose airplanes
circle endlessly over an eternal sunrise'), from practicality
('the miracle of your umbrellas'), as well as from acute
natural observation ('the skyhouse of the eagle ...
the spiral dance of shells ...')
Throughout it all Brian Lee weaves hypnotic and deeply
loving, often wistful, and sometimes whimsical songs
that leave me with a sense of the vastness of creation,
of the constant flow of change, and of an endless capacity
for miracles and wonder.
His reading of the poems on the CD adds another dimension
and is uncluttered, unpretentious and speaks directly
to the listener.
I've at last made time or in the event treated myself to time with your
recording of your poems. I was apprehensive to be honest - poets doing their
reading to music is usually their treat and other people's embarrassment. But
to my astonishment, I found this entirely successful - even persuaded it was
an entirely augmentary, even ideal presentation. You, in the first place, read
them with such directness, such absence of histrionic (that vice of actors that,
with only the rarest of exceptions make vomit of the verse!) and simplicity and
pace that allows the artful innocence of the poems to register without waxing
too sweet. And the accompaniment likewise is unstrained, very engaging in its
own right, and genuinely integral.
Really well done. Thank you so much. The poems ring with the solace of lyric,
the no nonsense of wisdom and the encouragement to be here for life.
All good wishes and let's have some more.
Ever
John
from John Moat, poet, novelist, painter and founder of the Arvon Foundation.
"Thank you for sending me your Songs for Gaia. I find
them very beautiful. I do not know your work - in fact
I don't read poetry for pleasure and my heart sinks
when I see a thick envelope - but your poems really
have given me delight. The soul is musical and you have
the gift, rare among contemporary poets, of musicality.
It is cosmic poetry and that I believe is the vision
this time has to discover - or rediscover. Religion
is a spent force, but the sacred lies in Gaia and the
unbounded Universe. I like the way you include cities
and saxophones and hotels and the flashing lights of
aeroplanes. These too are her children.
...
According to the Vedic hymns a mark of inspiration is
beauty and joy (ananda) and poetry should flow like
a luminous river. I feel that you have that gift of
receiving Inspiration from its unknowable mysterious
source. ...
Thank you for sending me your poem and for the enrichment
it brings and renewed hope in this dark time that there
is a pattern still weaving itself in this dark world."
Kathleen Raine
Brian - Your reverent & wise Gaia poems with the repetition
of "our lady" plus earthly images &c echo certain ancient
Indian mystics. Nice quiet poems to permeate the consciousness
of the reader (and with the CD, the hearer - & you have
an excellent uncomplicated reading voice & the music
is effective). A fine uncommon unusual outsider addition
to the contemporary poetry scene.
Kaviraj George Dowden
Dear Brian,
Thank you for your e-mail. It was a great pleasure and
inspiration to be present at your book/CD launch. As
you read the poem, (which I know has changed a lot since
that day you read it to Aisha, Ron, and me) I was strongly
reconnected with that day, and remembered how the rhythm
of the piece wove through me and into me, and remained
for a long time. And when I heard it again, there was
immediate body cellular memory somewhere deep inside,
and I just sat there, mainly with my eyes closed, and
let the whole thing wash through me again. I heard a
lot in it about death and the life cycle, that seemed
so meaningful to me because of Ron having been there
that first time, and then having died. He became very
present to me, and it was soothing and somehow more
all right than it has been so far, (to have lost him).
I loved your reading of it, the resonance and rhythm,
and it touched me profoundly. I read the whole thing
again on the tube going home, and I could hear your
voice speaking the words. I also loved Paul's music,
the way it sometimes went with, and sometimes cut across
the poem, and the wild painful beauty of it.
...
It was so good to be there, and I am treasuring my copy,
much love,
P.A.
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