What, on Earth, are we Doing?:
And Other Poems
Review by Sam Spruce
An Anthology by Lloyd Kemp
A beautiful collection of over 200 poems spanning over half a century by Lloyd Kemp. This anthology ranges from the light-hearted to the profound. Varying in style the poems range from the subtle nuance of the ordinary to clear insight of the extraordinary. A book worth having by the bedside.
Lloyd Kemp is a physicist (of some note), a husband, a father and a very sensitive and insightful man. [see more about Lloyd Kemp here] Of course he is much more too. He has compiled a collection of his poems written over 50 years of his life into a very moving anthology entitled "What On Earth Are We Doing?" As the title suggests there are concerns and reflections expressed in the poems about the progress that humanity makes on planet earth.
His poems range from a light hearted encounter with an earthworm to the profundity of the lack of love in the stock market. The poems vary in meter and style but all contain the subtle scrutiny of a sensitive person living a sometimes mundane and sometimes very demanding life. There are poems about the frustration of dealing with computers that behave in a ridiculous manner and there are deep and significant poems about the contradictions of the lives we live on this planet. Many of the poems carry nuance and subtle feelings that are hard to describe but in Lloyd's poems they are conjured up as you read. Like the poem about the slice of apple left on the plate by a loved one who had just left to go abroad or the feeling of emptiness that grows as the phone rings and rings in an evidently empty house.
This is a worthwhile collection of poems by an "ordinary" man living in an extraordinary world. It is a book full of gems. It is not a book to be read from beginning to end but rather to be visited serendipitously at random moments. It is ponderous and thoughtful and provides gentle contemplative support in an otherwise tumultuous life.
A beautiful book worth every penny.
