What Moments Yield: A poetry collection by Somerville artist Bridget Seley Galway

 

 What Moments Yield

A poetry collection by Bridget Seley Galway

Reviewed by Susan Isla Tepper

There are past moments that are remembered with pin-point accuracy by those who were involved. And there are others who prefer to bundle away the past into a sealed, locked container, to never see the light of day.

The writer makes a choice.

Poet, painter, writer Bridget Seley Galway is one of the most transparent of artists that I’ve come across. I doubt she could push away her past memories any more than she could push away an invading tank. Her interest in this personal exploration is what makes her tick, and power on, as an artist.

Under one roof (or perhaps no roof), What Moments Yield is an intriguing collection of poems breathing new life: Dear Stranger begins:

Dear Stranger: “If you should happen upon these words, / know I have lived in many daydream moments / with thoughts of you. / This will be our meeting. / What has seemed to be a vast space between us, / is the illusion of our seeming singularity. / My thoughts wonder how it is with you / when I see you walking, / sometimes peering out a window / as I do, / or just the window’s essence of you / through curtains, flower boxes, / night’s amber light or darkness. /… /” (cont).

This is alive poetry by a poet who can absorb every sensory element that crosses her path and those that made up her past. Some poets present the dead/death somewhat stiffly, as I suppose they visualize their past; freeze-framed rather than motion. Something perhaps to be cast in bronze like people used to with baby shoes. For Galway it’s a singularly different process, a kind of balancing act between her sincere wish to engage with the world through her art, and a little sprinkle of worry that perhaps she’s not getting through. She always gets through. I also feel it’s good for an artist to be just a little worried (just a little) to keep everything on balance.

In her poem titled Here, Galway refreshes a memory into a cherished moment.

Here

“Here I recollect you, / in stillness, in a sudden soft breeze, I inhale. / Here / you are the bird / that choreographs the sky, / to wires, / like a note you pose / underlining bright blue possibilities / you left to shine. / Always here, / I look up to you, / in the arrest of the changing light / where clouds adjust the space between us.”

Peppered throughout this book are stunning surreal black and white paintings and drawings by Bridget Seley Galway that illuminate her words and unique thought processes. When I want to know more about a writer, I know I’ve hit on really something good.

the book can be ordered at  http://ibbetsonpress.com