Anatomy of Voice
David Musgrave
What is a voice? In this book-length poem, (which starts in a manner reminiscent of Beckett's Company), the isness of voice is its central preoccupation: it is considered from as many different aspects as there are parts to this multiform poem. Highly exploratory, with words sometimes rising from or inspired by selected Renaissance to early Enlightenment wood-cut engravings, Anatomy of Voice is divided into four Partitions - across which are lyricised the shiftings of the question 'what is a voice', and the poem's speculative and evocative answers. The book is simultaneously warmly personal and scholarly, intimate and learned, a felt meditation created as a tribute to the late Bill Maidment, a teacher whose influence on the author (as it was for many) was life-changing.