Steve Denehan: Miles of Sky Above Us, Miles of Earth Below

Published By: Cajun Mutt Press

Buy It: Here

What they Say:
Steve Denehan is an extraordinary poet. In this debut collection, he writes about ordinary everyday events in his life and does so in a way that will resonate with the reader. His poetry brings unforgettable impact into small spaces, reveals the fabric of solitude in epic proportions, and tells stories of the moments where life truly exists

What I Say:

I have to admit that the prospect of reviewing poetry is always an unsettling one. How can you do the poet justice when all of their poems mean something to them, and you are constrained by the acceptable length of a blog post!

In Miles of Sky, Steve has written a book of poetry which is accessible and heartfelt. For me, the main driving force behind the selection of these poems is the theme of family – especially the relationship that he has with his daughter Robin. We see how Steve is learning to be a father and discovering all the joy and disappointments that go hand in hand with his caring role. The reader is privy to his thoughts on being a dad at school, while another details his experience of having a daughter at Christmas, and all the joy and stress that being a parent can bring.

In his poem half eaten cookies and carrots, he gives us an insight into what it is like being a member of his family at Christmas time:

“I look at her, bundled into her car seat

fading with every passing streetlight

as we drive toward the Christmases to come”

The poem is successful because it taps into what we all know and understand about Christmas. The need to be part of the family, the traditions and customs that every family has, and the idea that as a father, he is experiencing these with his daughter for the first time. There is a sense of nostalgia and comfort taken from this poem, which makes us not look only to ourselves, but also to those around us to understand what it means to be part of the family.

The poems featured in this collection, have many different themes, but I feel the main one that is subconsciously in all of them, is the idea that underneath our skin and the way we act, we all have the same hopes and fears. It is the belief that we are all constantly trying to find our way in the world when everything around us is changing. Parents are getting older, children are growing up, and our memories constantly changed in the retelling of them.

The poem Dublin airport for me, was a perfect example of this. We see how as a child, Steve would watch the aeroplanes fly above his head, and as all children do, they would not only be absorbed by the sheer size of the planes, but also keep looking at believing that the pilot and the crew would be able to see him. A trip to the airport is seen as a wonderful magical and mystical thing:

“we would watch the planes from the viewing gallery

impossibly huge, almost prehistoric

their rivets gleaming

the pilot setting settling into the cockpits

as if it were not a magical thing”.

Of course, as a child the gigantic aeroplanes, and seemingly mystical and hypnotic airports were things of complete wonder. As you grow up becoming an adult, these ideas lose their appeal, and you’re simply a person getting onto a plane. Life is not exciting anymore. However, when Steve is on a plane, and he looks down and see his mum hanging out the washing, that magical element returns to his life. I found that this poem which reminiscences about the naivety of childhood, (and having looked up at the sky many times as a child to follow the trails of the aeroplanes!) really resonated with me.

Steve’s poetry is very easy to read. Short sharp verses that sing across the page. They take on a rhythm of their own, and it is impossible to read them in your head, because you want to read them out loud. They are at times joyous, at times thoughtful, but always with a very heavy sense of Steve’s personality permeating the poetry.

I have to say for me, the poems I liked the best, were those that focus on his family. You can see how intensely personal this work is to him, and in writing this poetry about his daughter, I had the sense that he was trying to create a legacy for her to look back on and understand what her childhood meant to him. Increasingly, so many of us forget to write down what happened in childhood, and we are relying on the photos we might have taken on our phones rather than some tangible remembrance of our days gone past.

In Miles of Sky Above Us, Miles of Earth Below, Steve has put on paper his innermost thoughts and feelings about what it means to be a father, a son, and an observer of the life around him. It is very poignant to read, intensely personal and is a book of poetry that is imbued with his sense of self and his need to ensure that his family is never forgotten. To make poetry accessible is very difficult, and in this collection, Steve has done just that.

I get the sense as a reader that this work was not an easy one for him to curate, but that in doing so, it has perhaps not only helped us understand about what his life means to him, but has provided him with a tangible body of work that helps him to articulate how he perceives his place in the world and his relationship with his family. It is a wide ranging collection of poetry that is impressive in its scope and ideas, and taps into many themes that will strike a chord with lots of readers.

Thank you to Isabelle Kenyon for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

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