Poetry Review: Fool’s Paradise // Zoe Brooks

Described as “a poem for voices”, Fool’s Paradise by Zoe Brooks is a longform poem inspired in part by Brooks’ visit to Prague soon after the Velvet Revolution. Parts of the poem were first published in 1992 in Aquarius Women’s, and this year it was published in its entirety by Black Eyes Publishing. Brooks herself is a poet who has recently been working on the Cheltenham Poetry Festival. Her other works include the 2020 collection Owl Unbound, published by Indigo Dreams Publishing.

In Fool’s Paradise, three travellers meet the mysterious Fool, as well as his dog who walks in front of him, behind him or weaving between his legs. They go on a journey that will eventually reach Hell itself, and perhaps teach them a little more about the world, as well as themselves. One reviewer, Fiona Sampson, describes the poem as “a dive into the uncanny…in which we find ourselves both far from home, and simultaneously at home”. This is an apt observation. The most interesting feature of the poem is perhaps how, despite clearly being inspired by a specific event, the setting feels timeless. The travellers will visit a church many centuries old which makes the reader feel as though the poem is set far into the past, but on the same page they will state that “the electric razor in the corner flashes as it charges”, and the poem is thrust back into something resembling the modern world.

This sense of perpetual disorientation while reading closely matches what is felt by the travellers. The poem is immersive and the language used within it rolls off the tongue. As it is a “poem for voices” it seemed appropriate to read it aloud for the first read-through, and it is at its best when the reader does so. The words seem to roll off the tongue, each one painstakingly chosen. It feels like an oral folktale of some kind, a campfire story.

Although complex, taking some time for the reader to adjust to the formatting, Fool’s Paradise is also memorable. Each character or traveller is distinct, with pieces of information about their lives painstakingly woven throughout the text. The characters’ interactions feel organic rather than forced. The most fascinating of them is, perhaps, the Fool. Always a metaphor for something but ever-changing, he leads the unconventional group on their journey and always seems to speak cryptically. His dialogue is enjoyable to read both to oneself and aloud. This is a poem that is fascinating to perform, and likely even more so to be seen performed by others.

Words by Casey Langton

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