Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Every poet must understand that their craft is an extension of their soul, that the darkness and the light are to be seen in equal measure lest they find themselves on a road in which their chosen mode of transport will, if not let them down, then get bogged down in the intricacy of finding the right word, the shape or rhythm in which to convey their feelings, their thoughts, and the passion which can become too often, overwhelming.
The poet is the vessel, and they have to know that many to whom they speak will be deaf to the image, and unresponsive to the touch; it is an exercise in the cathartic, if you can change a person’s mind, if you can make them smile or make their heart beat to a slightly beat then what you have achieved is living life at an hour that suits you, not the nine to five, you have created art, Poems From the Midnight.
Davy Edge is one of Liverpool’s favourite sons, arguably a polymath of the artistic interpretation and endeavour, his acting is well known, his music has been admired and to those who have spoken to him, whether in the realm of the partial internet anonymity or over a thought in the theatre, what comes across always is his sincerity and passion; it is in these two strands of life that makes this collection of poetry a moment of pure joy to hold and read.
Poetry has always been subjective, for every fan and follower of your craft, there will be ten that shy away or argue over the point; it is that Shakespeare’s words ring at their truest sense, “To thine own self, be true”, and in each nugget pronounced, each poem deliberated upon, noting is more beautiful than reading the words of a poet who lives by that maxim every day, no matter whether they sit in glorious shade, or if they find themselves in the garden during a thunderstorm; it is in honest sentence that they live and breathe.
“Yet, Journeyman to Grief Am I”, writes the poet and grief with a heart filled with hope is the mind-set to which we should find ourselves, the ones who despair over the mind of the poet perhaps do not understand art, to those that seize pleasure from the undertaking, for them they see the gift of the person as they breathe in the obscure and abstract.
In poems such as Mindgame, Basketcase, the phenomenal A Big Bag of Yesterday, the scorn we should all feel in The Zombie Invasion, the suffering in I Am Autumn and the humour to be found and relished in Rock ‘n’ Roll Dinosaur, Davy Edge takes the reader on a journey, but one where the grief is replaced by joy, an absolute rhythmic trance displayed in keen-eyed observation and the flurry of those to whom the Mersey Poets made possible.
There are elements of the great Roger McGough to be found within Mr. Edge’s writing, there is a burgeoning solemnity that presides from the soul of Brian Patton; and if we, the journeyman on this adventure see the grief, then we should celebrate the effervescent life that Davy Edge has nourished as well. We can all think and dream of Poems From the Midnight hour, few can convey it with such easy going nature as Davy Edge, a true find, one in which you wonder why this is only the first collection from someone who obviously has the temperament and wit to produce a series of fine thought.
Ian D. Hall