Review
Mary Turley-McGrath. Irish Poet, Writer
Light Shifts by Carole Di Tosti
A Priori Publishing (2021)
The sonnets in this new collection by Carole Di Tosti were written over a number of decades. They speak of her life experiences through the prism of Christian faith, a faith that is the core of her life and her writing. This faith has been tested, abandoned, and retrieved, as she became a writer of poetry, fiction, and a theatre journalist.
The writing of a book of Shakespearean sonnets could be seen as a major challenge by many, and the strong religious element which permeates the poems, viewed as unique in the world of current poetry.
Yet, Di Tosti’s poems are solidly and tenaciously of our time; her themes range from the personal, to social and political issues. She does not shy away from the fault lines which can often lead to catastrophe: mental health issues, addiction, racism, political corruption. She handles this broad canvas, seeking personal and spiritual renewal, social justice, and political integrity with poetic sensibility and deep compassion.
These are intense, personal, metaphysical sonnets which echo back to the tones and themes of John Donne and George Herbert, poets who questioned their relationship with God, the world, and those they loved. On reading Light Shifts, we come to realise the need for renewal and miracles in a world recovering from the covid pandemic, now threatened by a war in Europe which could become global.
Di Tosti adopts the disciplined sonnet structure throughout and uses it to her advantage, allowing troubling and overwhelming themes to be viewed at some distance, then modified to her own matrix. Each quatrain expands and elucidates the previous, leading to the transformative effect of the final couplet. The use of a rhyming scheme and inversion can sometimes put pressure on the language and obscure meaning. However, with thoughtful reading comes clarity.
In the Prologue to the five-part collection, the poet states her belief in the power of the poet to stand time still, in order to wake / Us to ourselves, impact our souls. (‘Poets’). She views the human condition as sometimes alive with divine Grace but again, other times the darkness, pain and woe / Occlude the light.
So, the opening section Shades of Dark and Light, deals with struggles between positive and negative, truth and falsehood, light and dark. Oh! See the Light bestows Truth to your soul. / No lies can hide within its loving grace. (‘Vanquished’). Faith in Christ’s Truth is what the poet reaches for; she believes that the systems and idols of our time are void and that we need something beyond ourselves by which to live.
The writing of this book is a journey for which Di Tosti summons all the strengths and skills of the writer’s art. As on any journey, there are obstacles; here it’s the Joker of Dark Thoughts (‘The Dark Joker’), the critic on the shoulder who obstructs the flow of work with negativities, or as the poet describes it, a groundling who gaslights my brain. How apt to describe the self-critic as a groundling in a Shakespearean sonnet! This is one of the many striking images in the opening section.
This sonnet segues into the inspiration she gained from attending a performance of Nicholas Nickleby on Broadway. The perfection of the actors’ performances on stage becomes a channel of grace which shows the love of Christ for human beings. In the final rhyming couplet, she says My Spirit was exalted by this play. / In love for artists who show us Truth’s Way. (‘On Seeing Nicholas Nickleby on Broadway’). The spiritual strength gained enables the poet to negotiate difficulties in relationships and to reflect on the artist’s purpose. Compelled they are to aid posterity, / And prove that we aren’t quintessential dust. (‘Artist’s Purpose’).
As human beings, our passions sometimes lead to misery when we expected the opposite; As primal selves we couple and conjoin, (‘Spiritual, Earthly Love’). There is conflict between earthly love and spiritual love, between eros and agape; but for the Christian, Christ does catch us with his hope and Grace. (‘Transformed to Agape Love’).
The section, Shades of Dark and Light, concludes with five poems where Di Tosti affirms that the life of the soul, not science, or social trends, is the key to fulfilment and happiness. Christ’s life is truth for all of us to see. / Our faith in Christ is truth’s reality. (‘Elusive Truth’).
In Memoriam, the next section of Light Shifts, was written in memory of twelve people Di Tosti has known as friends or admired for their talents; people who influenced her by outstanding contributions to the world of the arts: film producers, actors, singers, writers. She begins with Anthony Bourdain, known through the medium of sumptuous foods on his TV programmes. His documentary Wasted! The Story of Food Waste (2017), is a reminder of the inbuilt systemic disconnects in a world where so many starve, and a third of food produced is wasted. She writers of him as, Breaking bread with strangers, no regrets, / You shared your winsome grace with all you saw. (‘Anthony Bourdain’). The biblical parallels here are gently sketched.
Stars of the big screen, later off screen, became positive catalysts in the lives of others. Carrie Fisher, of the Star Wars film series, made her drug addiction public and by doing this, gave courage to others to accept their own weaknesses and find recovery. The process moved you to a grander place / Within our hearts, and we did empathise, (‘Carrie Fisher’).
Fisher was one of the lucky ones; for many others, including Philip Seymour Hoffman, this was not the case. When he died of a drug overdose, the acting world lost an individual who portrayed characters that we could identify with; Through you we saw, we’re all the same within. / Black hearts, dark holes of boundless emptiness. (‘Philip Seymour Hoffman’).
Peter O’Toole made a lasting impression on the author. He had a career spanning fifty years on stage and screen. You worshipped Shakespeare, did the classics bring / To understanding roles, with a poet’s heart. (‘Peter O’Toole’). O’Toole once described himself as a retired Christian. In contrast with O’Toole, Cecily Tyson was, Stalwart, religious, faithful you carved your soul, / From living gemstones prism faceted light, (‘Cecily Tyson’). She selected acting roles which portrayed strong black women, and tried to overcome bigotry and racism through her performances. The novelist Toni Morrison, the first black woman to win Nobel Prize for Literature, set out to achieve the same goal in her writing. Your stories of Black Americans’ history, / Uplifted their sacred place racists would steal, (‘Toni Morrison’).
There is much for the reader to reflect on in this array of lives, their successes and legacies.
Politics and Religion is the title of the third part of Light Shifts. Many poems in this section express Di Tosti’s horror at the lust for money displayed by politicians who are swayed by lobbyists. When this happens, ordinary people are used as pawns and conned by leaders depicted as leading bloated lives with obsessions that lead nowhere. The ‘Golden Calf and Mammon’ cannot satisfy the soul. Soulless leadership saps the energy of a nation and destroys individuals’ freedoms to direct their lives. This is particularly true of the lives of women where misogyny has held women back. The patriarchy spirit is a lie, / That masquerades as truth, a fearful threat. (‘Christ’s Law of Love: A Woman’s Right to Choose’).
Nor does Di Tosti shy away from other major divisive issues in American society, including racism, the result of slavery which allowed the enslaved to be mistreated, starved, and demeaned. ‘Black Lives Matter’ begins: Reflecting on the trials of history / I can’t forgive our treacherous, bloody past. The horror of lynching is captured in the haunting image, The sacrificial hanged on Justice’s tree / To foster a Southern confederate’s sweet repast.
Another theme emerging in this section is war, and Di Tosti lambasts those who parade your name and speak of peace, / Yet war they bring for profit. Those who oppose war are seen as traitors, The tyrants see as chaff to be destroyed, those who oppose the global plans of elite groups. (‘Justice, Rights, Freedom: In the Name of God’).
The penultimate section of the book Sonnets of the Soul, is the most intense and poignant in the collection. Carole Di Tosti writes of her struggles to overcome the sense of loss, despair, worthlessness, and self-hate which once blighted her existence. Life had not brought the happiness she expected and she felt alone. It is the overwhelming sense of aloneness that pervades this part of the book, For I alone unique see what I see is a line from the sonnet ‘Such Darkness and Depression’. Facing a wide expanse of sea, she balances the works of mankind and human achievements against God’s mercy and Spiritual Faith on raging seas, (‘Soul Trials’).
Firstly, her trust in professional advice caused more harm that good; the approach was based on standards of the world, and led to further suffering. There is an ongoing struggle in these poems between light and darkness, strength and weakness, hope and despair. She does not give way to resignation which eats one’s spirits, gifts and dreams. (‘Soul Struggle’). The fault lines in her being cause her to shatter and float until at last ‘I look to Christ to calm my tortured mind’. (‘Surcease’).
Even though she finds the road to recovery, there are times of great difficulty when despair overwhelms again. This is very eloquently depicted in the lines, I feel my Christian soul retreat inside. / Vanadium doors block out true loving thoughts. (‘I feel my Christian Soul’). At last in the poem ‘Shaking off Despair’, is the line My axis turns and I turn towards the Lord. These two very striking images, one of despair, the other of hope, play on scientific terms, yet bring to mind the words of Samuel Beckett, I can’t go on. I’ll go on.
Each poem from Sonnets of the Soul is a microcosm of inner struggle; each quatrain of iambic pentameter builds on the previous one, and leads to a glimmer of possibility or success in the final couplet. It is as if a terrible process is being undergone until the poet learns to call up the Lord when Doubt is near. Self- knowledge, confidence and spiritual strength helped regain dreams to ‘create my masterpiece, express my breath, / In plays’ protagonists who live and die. (‘I’ve gone from Hope and Life’). She sees that she had misplaced her love of God, Let loose the hounds of Hell my soul to trod. When she realises that the Holy Spirit needs to fill our souls with love to counteract self-doubt, Forever, Christ forgave us, always will / We must forgive ourselves, at last she has conquered her demons.
God in Nature, the final part, is the shortest in the collection. It acts as a panacea to the struggle and turmoil of the previous. There is joy, ease, and reconciliation in these sonnets. The awakening to the beauty of nature, parallels the return to health and rejuvenation of the poet Patrick Kavanagh in his ‘Canal Bank Walk’ sonnet: For this soul needs to be honoured with a new dress woven / From green and blue things and arguments that cannot be proven. Di Tosti is now in a position to stand outside and beyond her own experiences and see, how at times, the predator is deprived of sweet and innocent prey. She finds a sanctuary in the New York’s Botanical Garden to observe the growth patterns of the lotus and the myriad species of orchids. She is fascinated by orchids, ‘Mysterious family, beauteous, sensual, distinct’, (‘Orchidaceae’).
Her observations on the nest building of sparrows reflects her own endless efforts to maintain stability and thrive. The sparrow, one of smallest of Gods creation ‘takes a stand, / Against climate crisis. (‘Sparrows’) while survival for the lotus in the final poem ‘The Last Lotus’ is achieved by embracing her watery tomb’. Di Tosti sees the lotus as a symbol of rebirth after death, of nature’s capacity to renew, and the power of The human soul, … To be reborn eternally in spiritual tides’.
End.
May 2022.