My thanks to NetGalley and ECW Press for an advanced copy of this poetry collection.

Poems are hard to write about since the words that a poet use might seem deep and introspective to one person, light and snobby to another. That is the power that words have, and in the hands of a master, words can be used like a scalpel to cut through the miasma of the day and get to the heart of the matter. Which is what the poet Bruce Whiteman does in his collection The Invisible World Is in Decline Book IX, part of a work that has spanned 40 years, a tremendous amount of history, and ending in this weird, possible end times.

The collection ranges in themes from loneliness, separation, inspiration, classical music, the life and work of the artist, and the pain and work of that same artist. And COVID. With political instability and a dash of what have I done with my life, and my art. Some poems are short, some like the The Nine, are longer an encompass the ideas of the nine muses, and where art is created. The writing is crisp, with passages borrowed from other creative types, some translations of classical music works. They blend well, themes are clear, and a poems become stronger with the outside influences.

A strong collection of poems with a common theme, started maybe before the pandemic, but definitely written during it. "Solo is the way to go" is one line, and sadly that seems they way that things are going to be. I was unfamiliar with the works of this poet, but this collection though it might be the end of grand work is very good and I look forward to reading more by Mr. Whiteman.

“Gradually people are pulling away: crossing the street, speaking less, staying alone at home. Everything harbours a possible link to illness and death: first-class letters, pears from the grocery store, the disregarded hockey stick, the handrail on the stairway, laughter, the colicky baby on an airplane. Why are you travelling, anyway? Go home and be lonesome. Stick it out.”

So many things that poetry does for one’s soul and this is absolutely no exception. So many parts of this beautiful work are now stuck with me, welcomed with open arms to live rent free in my brain for all my days. Wether your new to poetry writing or have a long time love affair with it I highly recommend this one.

Being the culmination of an ongoing, 40-year “long poem” that I am ashamed to admit I am unfamiliar with, “The Invisible World is in Decline: Book IX” by Bruce Whiteman brings the project to a stunning climax in three distinct parts.
Less like poems than isolated paragraphs, or at times just single lines, “In Disgrace With God” explores lost love, and finds the poet seeing his empty bed as an accusatory constant in his life. Later the text touches on the purpose of a poet and of poetry, namely to be the “suffering artist”. There is pain and beauty here in equal measure.
The second piece is entitled “Wörte ohne Lieder”, literally “songs without words” (a twist on Mendelssohn's “Lied ohne Worte” collection of piano pieces), Bruce Whiteman proffers translations of texts that were set to music over the years; the works of Mahler and Beethoven becoming vaguely modern, pain-filled love letters.
Centrepiece of the collection is “The Nine”, with each numbered section named after the nine Muses. This work is quite wonderful and ostensibly each section corresponds with each Muse’s specific field of expertise. With interjections from the psychopomp, (a guide for souls travelling to the afterlife in Greek mythology, here becoming, according to Whiteman, the master of dreams) it is probably the best literary examination of the pandemic I have ever read. Whiteman utterly nails the isolation and boredom of lockdown-life; reading it left me aching more than my arm after the vaccine. He takes us on a visceral journey through nature as season inexorably follows season, and we get a strong sense throughout of the crushing weight of time and the endless days of nothingness during quarantine.
Fragile yet occasionally brutal, this collection is sublime. It made a strong impression on me on my first reading, which is a good indication of the quality of the work, and I now feel compelled to explore the previous parts.

"Hell is no other people to touch and be touched by."

Thank you, NetGalley for the chance to read and review this ARC!

Given that I haven't read anything of Bruce Whitemans before, and I have no idea what the significance of the project is, this was probably wasted on me. I will say that I absolutely adored The Nine. I want to buy this book when it comes out to read that piece again. I want to copy-paste it in its entirety and share it with everyone (which I won't because it's long and people should buy the book).