Inspired by the beauty of the natural world, Richard C. Bower muses on our relationship with the earth in his new poetry collection, Pleasures In The Pathless Woods. Featuring 76 poems set across four seasons, it’s a project that focuses on experiencing the present moment. We catch up with the local author about the process, contemplating beauty, and his upcoming book…
The first thing I’d really like to talk about is your new poetry project, Pleasures In The Pathless Woods. Can you tell me about that?
In a nutshell, Pleasures In The Pathless Woods is about nature. It’s about appreciating beauty and splendour throughout every season. The collection itself is broken into seasons, so the reader can approach each poem within the necessary season, which brings it to life. I like to think it works because the collection will stay with someone throughout the year, rather than just quickly being read. And, hopefully, it will help them to notice beauty where they didn’t see it before.
It sounds quite contemplative then…
Yes. On the surface the writing is quite rich, in that it’s very visual, but my poems are also known for being quite philosophical - so there are always undercurrents to it. That’s another reason as to why the poems are spaced out within a season, because there are these underlying thoughts that people can contemplate for a few days and revisit.
This is your third poetry collection, following Postmodern and Sanctuary. Did they inform or lead up to this collection in any way?
I think Pleasures does need the context of my other collections, because it really speaks to where I am right now in life. My first book, Postmodern, was written when I was going through a difficult time. I call it my punk collection because those poems were me taking what life threw at me, chewing it up and spitting it back out. It was written at a time where I was unhappy and self-medicating excessively, trying to escape reality. When my second book, Sanctuary, came out, I wanted to get away from that life - so I went to live in a Buddhist community for six months. On reflection, though, that was still me looking to escape in some way. But Pleasures In The Pathless Woods is very much in the moment. It’s about finding the beauty here. I don’t need to get out of my head, I don’t need to go anywhere else, I can just be and appreciate life.
Pleasures In The Pathless Woods is about nature. It’s about appreciating beauty and splendour throughout every season
The natural imagery really captures that present moment you’re talking about…
Absolutely. And this ties into my other new book, too, which is named An Expedition Around My Garden. That’s also all about capturing that energy within the natural world. It was written in the second lockdown, when spring was vibrant. At that time, there were no vapour trails in the sky and the birds seemed even more audible than normal. It was a time for people to be really aware of what we had.
Expedition Around My Garden is described as somewhere between a novel and an epic poem. Why did you decide to get so experimental with the style?
I never really sat down and thought about the form. Instead, I just wrote. I’ve always written for myself first and foremost, and it was the same here. Then, within a matter of three weeks, I had these piles of papers which I sent off to a professor in English Literature. He told me it could become a novel and I wasn’t going to argue with that. So, from that moment, it’s been termed a novel - but it also has poetry woven throughout it. For me, above all, it's documentation. The terminology is just for marketing people, I think. As an artist and creative, you just create.
Expedition Around My Garden isn’t released yet, but it’s already gained acclaim in India. For our final question, can you say more about that?
On the back of this book, I’ve been invited to India to do the official book release. There was a very famous author in India named Rabindranath Tagore, who wrote dramas, music, plays and poetry, alongside writing the national anthem in India. My new book has been likened to the themes in Rabindranath’s book, Gitanjali, so I’ve been invited over as a cultural exchange ambassador to visit Shantiniketan, which is a UNESCO world heritage site, similar to Nottingham. I will be there on Tagore’s birthday to celebrate my work alongside his.
You can purchase Pleasures In The Pathless Woods from Waterstones or Amazon. Expedition Around My Garden will be available from Tuesday 9 May
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