Grave Park Poesy by Joseph Matose

In this collection, Joseph Matose asks how the world of the living is seen and remembered by those who have died. To answer his question, he presents a range of voices – glad and sorrowful, expectant and frustrated, truthful and untruthful, lascivious, gossipy, dreamlike, ironic, cynical, moral, religious, and even claiming to be wise – purporting to come from the residents of graveyards. Between them, they paint a picture of human affairs they can observe, imagine or remember but – crucially – can no longer take part in or influence.

A world in which, although letters and words – the poet’s own tools – must be prized, they also represent the medium of lies and inaccuracies preserved on gravestones or uttered by those left behind. A world where widows and widowers too-readily relinquish faithfulness and devotion, politicians are not to be trusted, and men commit violence on wives. Nevertheless, through all these voices an overall message of hope can – just about – be heard: the poems also cite much that is to be appreciated in human life and human affairs, and end with a heartfelt celebration of the greatness of Nelson Mandela.

–       Phil Vernon