Synopsis "That Blue Pause"
That Blue Pause, the sixth collection by Irish poet Tony Frisby, is one which continues to deal with the major themes in Frisby's poetry, that of place, perspective and changing view-points. And how could it not be so - from leaving school in Ireland at 14 to embarking on his PhD in Northern Irish Poetry in an English University forty years later, then becoming what he himself terms 'an apprentice minor poet', his life has indeed been, 'a constantly changing assemblage of images and understandings of self.' [Lacan] Following his four collections in the Letters series which reflected on his 'new' life in England, his 94 page epic poem Me, Me and Not ME became even more personal featuring a host of doppelgangers, including 'The real, the imagined, the dead and alive, figures from Irish mythology and the arts, irascible uncles and siblings, a bard, an unholy trinity, a shadowy father, the clan MacFirbisig and a bellowing one-eyed bull '; all of whom, according to Frisby, 'occupy the space I once thought mine'. In That Blue Pause however, yet another dimension to Frisby's work emerges; one in which, 'With his trademark lyricism' he offers a 'reading' of some of his favourite works of art. 'The Potato Eaters' by Van Gogh is the inspiration for 'That Light' whilst the 'Boxer of Quirinal' inspired 'That Pugilist', both poems being re-interpretations of these well-known works of art which offer valuable insights into the thought processes that drive Frisby's poetic imagination.
