From Poetry and Poetics Centre

micromacro by rob walker

Review by Megan Boyd

Micromacro is a visually exciting book giving the reader an insight into the poetic mind, creating sharp images that contrast the delicate nature of his words. When reading rob’s work you soon find that your mind starts tuning in to a different station of thought. The mundane becomes fascinating and you begin to leap outside the square of reality. His work features poems from diverse areas such as Australian flora and fauna, relationships and retrospective discovery.

This book weaves in and out of the author’s mind, but keeps the reader’s attention at all times. You can’t wait to turn the page and see where you are going next. Some pieces skip easily over you and others, such as 'L is for', wash past like a tidal wave of emotion leaving you gasping. Micromacro is a journey of thought. The subject matter varies but the ideas and insights provide a journey worth taking. rob walker’s writing style varies such as in 'advice to a politician' (8) which renders a slight jab at our present political system. His political viewpoint is conveyed wonderfully using an almost haiku style, a great example of minimalist poetry.

Other works such as 'a beginners guide to postmodernism' (23) provide a fantastic insight into the rhetoric of the educated, leading us through the hypocrisy of word tags and then surprising us with an ending that leaves the reader questioning reality itself.

Don’t say book......poem or story
It’s all just text

don’t talk.
have a
discourse

you may still lecture
in the time honoured way
but call it a
conversation

in the end nothing matters anyway
everyone’s opinion is as good
as everyone else’s

the external world does not exist.

ignore it.

I would especially like to mention rob’s use of language and style in 'empty sockets' (46). Utilising free flowing text, or conrete poetry, to manifest a slightly disturbed edge, this poem collectively enters the mind both in a mental and spatial environment. His words leap over the page forming visual meanings and free-form ideas. This is a wonderful piece that really flies off the page. When your eyes have adjusted, realigned and absorbed its content you begin to understand the depth of the message. A must read.

Every poet should read rob’s exceptional work titled 'Quality' (59). In this piece he notes under the title that in the 14th and 15th centuries English poets were known as makers. rob presents us with a wonderful interpretation that couldn’t help but motivate all poets and reaffirm the value of their work:

and what idea conceived

today

will make a new word

to be pondered in three

millennia?

Another piece that really caught my attention is 'Microworld' (30). Throughout his work rob demonstrates the ability to look into the remarkable realms of nature and the subconscious. He brings the unseen to the surface in many of his poems and 'Microworld' is a fantastic example of this talent.

a visible universe of unseen blocks and bonds

desiccating clay tessellates to hexagons

quartz molecules hold hands. Angled calcite perfection

fibonacci in each pinecone, protea, sunflower

geometry of the seen

constructed from the lego

of the invisible

Micromacro is a remarkable example of new Australian poetry and rob walker’s confronting, sometimes-ethnographical approach mirrors the challenges that many artists have when it comes to accepting and digesting modern reality. This book can be revisited over and over again. It is a pleasure to discover the multifaceted levels of each poem, as each revisitation unveils a new idea or concept.

micromacro By rob walker
Seaview Press
Westlakes, South Australia
Sept 2006, 78 pages, $22

Visit the Seaview Press website [1] for more details

About rob walker

rob walker is a writer and primary school educator. His poetry which amounts to more than 300 original works have been widely distributed via Web based mediums including sites such as Thylazine, Southern Ocean Review, evasion (NZ), Comrades ezine (UK), Poetas del Mundo (World) and many more. rob also appeared in ArtState Magazine #14, Friendly Street publications and numerous other journals and printed publications. His work has been read on The Deep End and PoeticA, ABC Radio National's poetry program, and also appears on the spoken word/music CD Going Down Swinging #23.

Micromacro, published by Seaview Press, was the winner of the Poetry Unhinged ‘Single Poet Collection’ in 2006 held by the City of Onkaparinga.

Go to rob walker's website at [2] and enjoy some of his recent works.