Sejours en France et autre pays by Ron Wilkins, Delphian, 2025
I have to say I was excited when my copy of Sejours en France et autre pays arrived at my place. Of course, I had read the book before to enable me to write a back cover blurb but to see the final physical work, so delightfully laid out with accompanying artwork – yes a blast.
I have been acquainted with Ron’s work for some years and all those elements that I love about his poetry shine brightly in Sejours. I will speak to all of them in turn.
Firstly, one has to marvel at the vast, unquenchable curiosity that runs through Ron’s work. There is a global shortage of this invaluable human trait. You find it everywhere in this book from communal bathrooms in Japan to the nature of the human soul. I note particularly with the former there was that delightful mirrored curiosity as the woman watched the poet trimming his beard.
This curiosity is regularly accompanied by a gleeful sense of play. From savoring a dialogue in China where there is no common language to playing with the reader’s head as locations jump across the globe almost challenging you to find the thematic flow. And you have a book in English with a French sentence for a title encompassing reports back from a number of countries.
There is a fundamental veracity to this book. In the preface Wilkins talks to the deliberate choice of the word sojourn/sejours. How many times have we read pieces about place where it is so obvious the poet has plonked themselves somewhere for maybe a day or two and emerged with a “absolutely authentic” snapshot – all one needs to know about location X. You read Ron’s book and are automatically reminded what true immersion in a location or culture is like. It demands time even if the poet is sometimes surprised by being unnerved by stasis (the reason for birds).
There is a rich vein of humour throughout the book ranging from bonsai love or madness to knitting in the pool.
Far too often humour in poetry can descend into a mockery. That mockery almost always exposes the writer’s lack of knowledge, empathy and/or intuition. You won’t find it here. There is no shortage of inherently ridiculous situations but they are all accepted as part of the crazily complex nature of humanity. This fundamental respect only enhances the aforementioned veracity. Delight at the sting in the tale of the piece the poete a mazout. Also, how the shark lets us all sit back from our contentions with philosophy in Poolside reflections.
Some parts of the book may appear conversational and they certainly have that accessibility that the more lyrical voice can enable. But as you journey through this volume, take time to wonder at some extraordinary imagery – for example where Ron uses forest images to describe a gym. And there’s such wonderful phrasing like the innocence of minerals. It’s not easy nowadays to have original imagery but I was bowled over by his exploration of human souls as sunflower seeds.
There is beauty too… Subway Hanami is a classic example of this master craftsperson’s deft hand.
The book is all-encompassing, global then beyond global to encompass gods and planets while still being able to take in a wander through the Australian suburbs or the picky etiquettes of a market in Guangzhou. We even explore with him how plants embrace death.
All the while there is a pervasive gentleness to this book.
So this 10 year project from Ron Wilkins is hereby launched. Buy this wonderful book, be entranced and enriched.
– Les Wicks
Over 45 years Les Wicks has performed widely across the globe. Published in over 450 different magazines, anthologies & newspapers across 36 countries in 15 languages. Les conducts workshops & runs Meuse Press which focuses on poetry outreach projects like poetry on buses & poetry published on the surface of a river. His 15th book of poetry is Time Taken – New & Selected (Puncher & Wattmann, 2022).
For information on buying Sejours en France et autre pays by Ron Wilkins contact Ron through Delphaian Books at https://delphianbooks.com.au/featuring-poetry-part-2/
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