'The Ladder is Simon West’s third collection of poetry, and his first in four years. Many earlier preoccupations return—the natural environment, Italian art, the dimensions of place. There is a new focus on worldly and artistic responsibility, and a fascination with the ‘certain poise’ of ‘being in between’. At the collection’s heart are the building blocks of language, along with the more literal ones of Rome, where some of these poems were written during a residency at the Whiting studio in 2012.' (Publication summary)
'In the book's second poem, "Climbing the Tower of Babel," the poet talks us through his learning of the Italian language, echoing how "this isn't yours to call your own," and this, coming from a Caucasian poet in Australia, is perhaps a subtly intentional, pointed image; the point is that West is finding a way to talk within (and perhaps from beyond) a country of "death-tinged colors" (29): It was love that kept me going despite myself, that and the elusive charity of words.' (Publication abstract)
'In the book's second poem, "Climbing the Tower of Babel," the poet talks us through his learning of the Italian language, echoing how "this isn't yours to call your own," and this, coming from a Caucasian poet in Australia, is perhaps a subtly intentional, pointed image; the point is that West is finding a way to talk within (and perhaps from beyond) a country of "death-tinged colors" (29): It was love that kept me going despite myself, that and the elusive charity of words.' (Publication abstract)
