Perfect Deviation – 15 February 2025

‘… A love poem
does not love you. Or
does not necessarily love
you. A love poem faces
outward. It performs
love adequately. Lately,
I’ve wondered about poetry’s
efficacy. It’s like doubting
a long romance, or romance
itself, the essence of it.
Fearsome, to doubt
your life’s foundation.’

Efficacy, utility, value; affinity, love art; Keats, Colette, Nick Cave and PJ Harvey.

Diane Seuss may claim doubts but Modern Poetry is a triumphant lesson in the import of poetry, one to convert even the sceptic who has refused to read it since GCSE English forced them to underline a simile without an inkling of why that mattered.

Modern Poetry is euphoric. I believe you will fall in love, even with the ghost of a Keats who did not brush his teeth.

Love it is then, oft romantic but not necessarily. Love of parents, friends, birds, clouds, people one will never meet and fictional characters…

Love in Exile by Shon Faye expands from a personal account of experiences (and ‘failures’) in romantic love to a critique of the way in which politics and capitalism shape our expectations of love in all sorts of relationships. Exile begins as a personal label stemming from a belief that Faye will never ‘have’ the romantic love story she is supposed to want but widens to a discussion of why many feel alienated, offering optimism nevertheless.  

Love in Exile is not to be confused with The Exiles in Love by Hilary McKay, the third in her delightful middle grade series about four rather troublesome sisters, in which Ruth juggles several crushes, the bus driver, the butcher and Mr Rochester all becoming objects of desire. And then all the sisters find themselves entranced when Philippe comes to stay from France… The grounding advice of Shon Faye may have helped…

As well as Faye’s book, I have been reading Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity by Diarmaid MacCulloch. The two together raise fascinating questions about sex, gender, religion and cultural attitudes to relationships. MacCulloch’s research is meticulous and the sheer weight of the book felt daunting but it’s fascinating and easy to read. The only issue is that on every page there’s something I learn and want to discuss with someone so it’s going to take a while to make it through 700 pages…

In novel loves, the moving and tense Cinema Love by Jiaming Tang is now out in paperback, in which a cinema has become the one place where gay men can meet in 1980s China and Deviants, the second novel by Santanu Bhattacharya, has just been published, in which three generations of gay men fight for their rights and their dignity in India. Both marry beautiful writing with dark edges.

If you’ve learned nothing from Shon Faye and are still seeking Perfection then Vincenzo Latronico’s novel is the antidote. You may think you want the apartment in Berlin with the carefully curated Danish furniture and collection of succulents but the flawless Instagrammable meal can taste hollow and no filter on a photograph can mask doubt indefinitely.

Fortunately, one can step away from social media and recognise that Something in the Woods Loves You. Jarod K. Anderson’s nature writing opens with a story of blue herons. Unfortunately, the story is a lie. But not one that detracts from the majesty of a heron or our love of seeing these birds in nature and in books. (Or on shop windows: come and meet Ginny if you haven’t already.)

Whilst out gazing at herons, do look up at Mountain and Cloud. Jana Curll’s picture book tells the story of best friends separated by a storm and forced to face their fears separately. The use of colour is gorgeous and the many gulls watching the story unfold have the most delightfully expressive eyes.

My own eyes were rather misty throughout our celebrations last week. Love of crying is not unheard of, even or especially among the cynical. Thank you to everyone who made the past few days perfectly chaotic. I leave you with Diane Seuss:

‘…I would like to conjecture
that a romantic is a cynic who has been infected
with resurrection metaphors and believes in the integrity

of a good
line break.’

May your weekend beat with the love of books,
Lizzie