Alchemy by Rae Spencer

 

I was asked to review this book a while ago and I started reading it immediately, but have only just finished it because after almost every poem I had to put the book aside to think about what I'd just read. 

Divided into sections that mirror the sections of a scientific report (Introduction, Methodologies, Results, Discussion, Conclusion) this is an ambitious second collection from US veterinarian and poet Rae Spencer. Covering a wide range of topics from science, it is thought-provoking, beautifully written and well worth reading slowly so you can savour the words. 

From the opening poem 'Expansion' which uses Alice in Wonderland to explore ideas around space and time, the reader is taken on a scientific adventure. Charles Darwin is quoted in Means of Dispersal which looks at his scientific studies of seeds.  The poems also question science, in Progress, makes the point that the search for the Unified Theory of Everything 'doesn't postulate / Why we need to know / Everything'. My House is On Fire beautifully compares ladybirds to constellations 'an ambling zodiac of seven spots'. Pelagic Study looks at shoals of fish: 'schooled in the notion / that same means safe'.

As well as the poet's eye and ear for a memorable phrase, I particularly admire her use of enjambment, where the meaning runs on and changes subtly from one line to the next, here's just one example from Luminiferous Ether, which is about the ether that early scientists proposed as the substance that carried light:

galactic coordinates and mapped
against math 

where the reader imagines one meaning for mapped when reading the first line alone, but the context changes as you read the next line. 

Other poems examine or speculate about a wealth of biological and othe scientific topics including: early human ancestors, cave art and the evolution of human communication, fungal communication, animal instincts and the life cycles of cicadas. 

This would be a wonderful Christmas gift for any scientifically minded poetry fans out there, and for those who aren't scientifically minded it may well ignite an interest in the sciences. 

Alchemy by Rae Spencer, published by Kelsay Books (2024)

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Alchemy includes the poem The Plume, which was first published on Bolts of Silk, the poetry journal that I used to edit.

Disclaimer: I was sent a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.  

Read my review of Rae's debut collection Watershed here.