Sentenced to Life by Clive JamesMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
"Near to death, but thankful for life". This is how Clive James described himself in March 2015 in a BBC radio interview. An atheist suffering with terminal leukemia. Sentenced To Life is a collection of poems he wrote during the period 2011-2014, published in 2015 by Picador. Complex, lyrical poems - stark and unsentimental. Anticipating death he writes with a laconic style.
In Cabin Baggage he talks about his niece coming from Australia to stay with him:
"...But she'll be gone before the peaches come.
On days of burning sun, the air is tinged
With salt and eucalyptus. 'Why am I
Leaving all this behind? I feel a fool'.
But I can tell from how she writes things down
The distance will assist her memories
To take full form. She travels to stay still.
I wish I'd been that smart before I left.
Instead, I have to dig deep for a trace
Of how the beach was red hot underfoot,
The green gold of the Christmas beetle's wing."
James writes with insight and emotional power 'the work of a lifetime, at least so far'.
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