"A Story of Our Times..." Nothing Left to Lose ~ Book Review

 “Nothing Left to Lose” by Natasha Head is her first collection of poetry, but first and foremost it is the story of our times. It’s a story about failings, not only personal, but societal. It’s a story of that dark night of the soul and that slow process of returning to the light like flowers in spring. It’s the story of one person’s eyes opening to the troubles in the world at the same time that world, too is waking up. If anything, this work is the work of the world through the individual and how fitting that it sees the light of day in this season of spring and at the dawn of a new human enlightenment.

Broken into three acts that carry us with her on a journey, it begins with a section called “Static.” The poems in this section display the author’s pain and leave her and us feeling vulnerable in our humanness. From “Safety Zone” are the lines:

“She wants to fall

into her self-imposed abyss.

Simply losing herself

to the gray.”

And from “Tea with the Tax Lady”

“After errors and penalties

and mistakes and late fees, I see

the cloud of hope that was to get us through

evaporate in a wash of now-dead trees.”

This pain and guilt spill over into a poem about guilt on a larger scale. “Dogma” is a study of Native peoples, how they are fenced off from larger society and how some descendants of the colonists, too, are fenced in by this uncomfortable relationship. You find throughout the book such snapshots that are larger than the life an individual’s experience, but add to the total feel of each section.

The poem “IV” shows how she finds no solace in religion. Others in this section show her discontent with the grind of everyday life. But in “Travel Unintended” she contemplates poetry and place and finds solace in the land of her home, the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.

Often her words capture an idea especially well. In “Chore List,” for example, the feel of an old house is perfectly caught in these lines:

“there is always the aroma,

of something that is not yours.”

These heavy feelings start to lift after the poem “Exit Through the Front” where she says, “We know a house is not a home.”

Section two is called “Momentum.” In these poems we see her finding a new sense of courage. From “She Runs:”

“She works up the nerve to wonder

To question

Why her own happiness

Is never mentioned

Or considered worth fighting for”

She begins to live her dream and take responsibility for her happiness, for her life and knows that this may make others unhappy.

“The Wood Pile” is one of the poems that veers off to the side a little, but holds within it the larger meaning of the section. It takes us back to her childhood. This memory of the past is about taking on something huge and achieving success. Hard work builds character, she seems to suggest, and after that you get to build your world.

This heroine’s journey is one of great ups and downs which all lead to a realization, which is the name of a poem in the second section. It’s about waking up to the knowledge that she is the one who allowed things to happen, that she is responsible.

“Because I have allowed it to be.

I have the power.

I can act on the power.

I can begin to move.”

As soon as we think we’ve got a handle on things we often make a descent into that dark night again. In “Poetic Eyes” she talks of “pain as muse.”

“All that is

All that ever was

Bleeds poetically

In a red too brilliant

For words”

The third and final act of this journey is called “Evolution.” The second poem in this section, “Creators,” speaks to an awakening hope.

“you are divinity manifested

within this earthly realm.

You are, within yourself,

the miracle you have been waiting for.”

This evolution is spiritual. We see this in the beautiful lines of “Quantum Heart:”

“You were nothing more

Than an unformed wave

On a sea of potentiality

Until I chose

To collapse you on my shore.”

We see her growth unfold not only inwardly, but outward. We see her begin to reach out to other, the world in “One Love.” She expresses deep feelings for this world in “I Pray.” And this growth continues as she gains a widening perspective on her own life in “Aging Ways,” where she muses on time passing and the need to start living for herself.

“I spotted a tree on the roadside yesterday,

as we travelled through the valley.

Already the brilliant green

was being overtaken.

Sacrificed to the raging red of autumn fire.”

This care for the world and the need to live for self as well as others so as to make a better world leads to “Grass Fire,” a poem in which we see her political awakening forming into the birth of the online organization, New World Creative Union. This fledgling organization of creatives is gaining momentum as I write these words.

It’s not all about the outside world, so she gives over the words in “The Other:”

“But for now, here is a story that needs telling.

And she will write…

write… write…”

The book ends in death, in a poem called “In Passing.” Perhaps this is reminder to herself and to us to keep moving, to keep evolving while we can, for sooner or later it does end and yet in endings something else begins.

The reviewer, Joanne Elliott is a blogger and social media maven operating as Social Sprite Media Services. A poet and journalist, Joanne is a vibrant and avid supporter of poetry and the arts in all their forms.