The New Gods by William O'Daly
Source: Purchased Paperback, 92 pgs. I am an Amazon Affiliate
The New Gods by William O'Daly is as unpredictable as the ocean's waves, as the poet pushes us to action and halts our momentum for moments of reflection. Opening the collection with "The Fire" readers are dropped into a glade of sorts where water is tumbling to a hot canyon, and it is clear that despite the destruction of the fires in the forest and the danger to the birds and horses, there is still beauty here. Does that beauty survive? It's hard to say, but O'Daly makes sure we pause to see it.
Moving further into that opening poem, O'Daly shifts the focus to the tension and angst we create with our fire of invention and the risks it carries. The hail of spitballs in a classroom reminding the narrator of the nuclear fission that could rip them to shreds and render the world of friends and brothers, etc., into vapor. It's again another familiar scene that many of us recognize that is destroyed by an outside force that could be of our own making. In the final lines, it is clear that we are all just on the cusp of a precipice.
O'Daly has a keen eye for detail in these poems, creating a world you fall into and instantly recognize. But he also asks readers why "we live far from ourselves and/each other..." (pg. 35, "The Unwritten Letter") It's like a bird's call for us to slow down, pay closer attention, and learn from what's around us, what has come before, and even the destruction we cause. There are lessons to be gleaned and beauty even in that darkness.
The Flag Is Burning (pg. 37-8)
We, friend, are the body of the country burning in the street, eyes open against the sky, the child running, the mother on her knees reaching for the soldier aiming, the village on fire -- the shrapnel littered ruins ... It is in this poem where we are reminded of our place in society and a country and that we are responsible equally for its actions if we remain inert. O'Daly revisits this concept again in "Handout," where a huddled figure in the fog is feared by the narrator rather than shown compassion until his daughter takes action with her hand out to him, an offering of food. The New Gods by William O'Daly spans a great many subjects, historic moments, but it is in its quiet moments where he's at work, teaching us that we are the "new gods," the ones with the power to effect change.
RATING: Cinquain
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Photo courtesy of Kristine Iwersen O'Daly
About the Poet:
William O’Daly’s most recent book of poems, The New Gods, which includes these poems, will be published by Beltway Editions on September 15, 2022. O’Daly has translated eight books of Pablo Neruda’s late and posthumous poetry and Book of Twilight, the Chilean Nobel Laureate’s first book.