From Dino ahmad ali on Flickr
Neil’s first collection begins with a poem—“In the Long Dream of Exile” (hear Neil read it below)—that marks the solitary nature of the poet’s vocation. Pointing to this call to wander rhetorical landscapes in pursuit of, among other things, what poet Adrienne Rich calls “the dream of a common language” (the shared signs and tokens through which we might make our way into deeper relationships with one another, with the earth, and with God), the poet shows how this work keeps those who choose it always “on the verge of love” (line 19). As a participant-observer who is both a compassionate part of and who stands apart from various communities (the latter as a function of the solitude necessary for the poet to assimilate and express his insights into human experience), he skirts this verge with longing and lyric precision. He traces rich veins of language and connection through relationships lost, forged, and remembered on his journey through the lost country of sight: the exilic, often neglected place wherein poetic imagination and memory offer new visions of personal and communal histories, presence, and potential.
Neil has also collaborated with composer and conductor Juhi Bansal on a musical suite based on four poems from The Lost Country of Sight: “Kite Flying,” “Halfway,” “Credo,” and “I Dream My Father on the Shore.” (Follow this link and scroll to the bottom of the page to hear how the collaboration turned out.)
(This post first appeared in Mormon Artist [scroll down])
Connected post: “boxcarpoet: Neil Aitken Takes SoundCloud”
(9/26/2014: Edit to add audio file and link to connected post.)