THE ALWAYS ALREADY ABSENT PRESENT by Anne Tardos Reviewed in North of Oxford

From The Always Already Absent Present reviewed by Greg Bem

In the new collection from Anne Tardos, The Always Already Absent Present, the conceptual writer explores calmer, more approachable logical lyrical verse that is built on research and rooted in experience. It is a slim volume filled with 77 shorter poems, each of which are self-contained and beautiful capsules of momentary thought.

Maybe consciousness was installed by alien visitors.
Who are said to have been among us
Invisible or disguised as human animals.
I would welcome such seemingly apparent benevolence.

(from “Fifty-Nine,” page 75)

This is a numerical collection. With a focus on word and line count by way of the number seven, Tardos provides a unique approach to form and thought. Each line is seven words long, each poem is seven lines long. Meter isn’t considered directly, allowing for a comfortable fluctuation in language and tonality that escapes the often rugged and archaic approaches to poetic forms. The poet’s relatively open style matched with consistent poetic structure smoothly supports the primary themes: scientific theory, science fiction, an appeal to explore of the cosmos, and forays into attempting to know reality.

Concepts provided within the realm physics and astronomy lend fascination and provocation, arising from the poet’s ether with each twist and turn of the book. The speaker appears to discover concepts and then lightly explores them, bringing them into daily life, a here-and-now context that shies from the belittling challenges of academia and formality. Instead, it feels like Tardos’s speaker has invited us into their space, their meanderings, for confirmation and conversation.

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read the whole review here:

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2025/01/01/the-always-already-absent-present-by-anne-tardos/ 

Buy Anne Tardo’s The Always Already Absent Present

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