On "Mowing" by Marlene Cookshaw

The following is a review of a collection of poetry titled Mowing, by Marlene Cookshaw.

By Ellery Pollard

Mowing (2019) by Marlene Cookshaw is a book of poems that expresses the themes of family, loss, aging, and life. The book is organized into three sections, labeled I, II, and III. These sections seem to be divided into three stages of the author’s life, loosely characterized by spring and fall, winter, and summer. Cookshaw compares various life events to the land around her, as well as to animals that she crosses paths with. She also likes to include household appliances and furnishings within her poems. Based on these stylistic choices, one can assume that her aesthetic is the natural world mixing with mundane household objects. Because many of these poems take place on a farm, the idea of harvest could be added to that aesthetic. Consider the title Mowing, for instance. When mowing, one is outside, under the sun and the sky and cutting grass with a mower, taking in the smells and sights of nature. It is an incredibly domestic chore, and yet it involves nature on a very personal level because you are shaping it to fit your needs. Cookshaw’s collection of poems uses this theme as she compares nature to her life so that she can make better sense of it.

The poem titled “Mowing” falls in the middle of the book in section II. The fact that the book’s namesake poem falls in the middle of the work is very interesting because that choice alone adds meaning to the poem. Cookshaw intends for the reader to pay close attention to it based on the name alone, but now that it is centered around her other poems, it seems further highlighted and set apart. On its own, the poem carries the theme described above. She expresses the task as, “mowing the June-high grass to a carpet of green” (46.2). Using such a comparison ties carpet, a household item, to nature. The specific type of mowing she describes in this poem is also the harvest of hay, which is later carried off in trucks to be stored for the winter. She states, “The bales appeared to rise of their own accord / from the workers’ hands…” (46.19-20). It is interesting that while she is aware that workers made the bales of hay what they are, she notes the majesty of them as a part of nature and as their own beings. This poem is one of the only poems in Mowing that takes place during good weather. By good I mean it is not precipitating, there is no storm, and the wind is not acting up. This is the case until the end of the poem, in which Cookshaw describes a stormy night, but also, “In the morning a haze of new leaf” (46.25). It seems that the author is trying to convey that even when a person takes from the land, from life–or even when things are taken away–new things will always grow. And even after a storm, there is always something to look forward to. She basically uses this poem to restate the cliché that when one door closes, another opens.

Like how creating bales of hay is a form of collecting, so is taking photographs. Marlene Cookshaw alludes to photography many times throughout the book, restating a particular word in multiple poems: snap. She uses this word as a synonym for photographs in the poems “Moving House” and “Hold It.” She mentions photos in other poems as well, including “Bucket,” but never uses the word picture. Perhaps that word is too boring for Cookshaw’s aesthetic, or maybe it’s a Canadian thing. She deals with the concept of loss in Mowing, so preserving memories must be important to her, whether it be through photography or poetry. She is careful to mention both throughout the collection.

In the same vein, Cookshaw seems to enjoy being in conversation with other poets within her own poetry. Sometimes she will begin a poem with a quote from someone else, as she does in the first poem of the collection, “Moving House.” Another time she does this is at the beginning of her poem titled “Empty Suet Cage” in section II. In this poem, she refers back to the quote she begins with, using italics in order to separate the lines from her own writing. Perhaps by doing this she is comparing poetry to nature, relating her life to poetry as she does wildlife.

Marlene Cookshaw wrote Mowing to express her ideas of life, love, and loss. The message that Cookshaw is trying to convey through this book is to keep living life despite the loss and storms that come your way and to hold onto memories. In order to spread this message effectively through poetry, she develops an aesthetic tied to nature and household items, combining the two with ease. She places her poems throughout the novel with great care, as demonstrated by the book’s namesake, “Mowing,” being in the very middle as a stand-out piece. Individually, each poem holds a memory special to the author from which she gleans meaning, like a harvest of significance. Collectively, the poems form a photo album of Cookshaw’s life, an idea which she alludes to in some of her works, including “Hold It.” The author cares about meaning, poetry, life, and nature. She enjoys conversing with other poets within her work, as seen many times throughout Mowing. All of these elements make Marlene Cookshaw an effective poet and make Mowing a collection worth mulling over.

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Marlene Cookshaw's Brick Books profile: https://www.brickbooks.ca/bookauthors/marlene-cookshaw/