‘This is not a play’ the opening voice of Alice Oswald’s new title, A Sleepwalk on the Severn, so promptly establishes ‘this is a poem in seven registers’. Already the average reader is able to notice that the tone of this poem is not to be associated with the commentated, contemplative run-of-the-mill poetry we may have expected from this quiet, green-fingered Bristolian. And if this were the case; how we are mistaken. Instead, what Oswald’s poetic world offers us is an excitingly new and creatively apt view of one of Britain’s key ecological landmarks; a landscape that is not only a point on the compass for this talented British poet but one that has been at the fore of the ecological mindset, as well as the collective Green affront, to make Britain a more sustainable country.

Now, for an english student or a poetry fanatic happy to stain their copy of Oswald’s Sleepwalk with the butter from crumpets, this book will open its onlookers to a world of technical proficiency, masterful deliverance of language, and poetic sight that surfaces from waters as deep and as old as England; and if successful, should see each of its readers gasping into a reality of twenty-first century issues. But what, we may ask, does this have to do with ecological Britain? What is it, from the Green perspective, that exists within Oswald’s pages that we must take note of. And, to get to the point, what does poetry have to do with, for instance, Britain’s efforts to meet the E.U. 2020 requisites?

Thumbing through the pages of Sleepwalk, it is clear why Oswald’s anxiety and need to eradicate the interpretation of her work as merely an avante-guard attempt of a play was so necessary and immediate. For the unconcerned eye, it would appear to be just that: a play in one half and a collection of poems in the second. But it is neither of these things. Instead, what can be collected from the pages is a strong sense of artistry; an almost sculptural attempt to fix and deliver language onto the surfaces and inter-connectivity of the situational. What is achieved through Oswald’s creativity is the poetic situation. And as readers we are invited to tour this abstract landscape, and engage with the thought our guide has mapped out for us.

But what! does this have to do with Ecological Britain? This frustration can be answered in one word: awareness. More often than not, a group of ecologists will sit with a list of environmental issues (big or small) and boil down to one fact: if we are to see true sustainable results in Britain within the next twenty years, then awareness will be the greatest tool for long term viable solutions. It will be a culture of change that will ensure Britain not only Gets Green, but Stays Green too.

Over the past years the Severn Estuary has received much interest in its capability to house renewable energy alternatives for Britain; namely, a stretch of underwater turbines that can harvest the sites consistently strong currents and become a realistic prospect for a ‘domestic’ natural power source. Campaigners have demonstrated with great appeal and backing which has thus prevented any serious solution to take residence. However, as 2009 is now upon us and Britain still remains far back in the running to meet 2020 targets (one being: Britain must produce 1/3 of its power through renewable sources) it will soon be the time not for solutions, but for results. This is the ecological situation thus far. A situation that is set in the clinical world of figures and forecasts; full of threats and the need for reasoning. It is set in the same world where Oswald’s poetry was written intended for public release, to reach as wide an audience as possible. Oswald’s poetry speaks, lets say, with a celebrant authority on and into the issue of sustainable life and man’s relationship with the cyclical patterns of nature. But as much as poetry exists to show us how the most microcosmic detail can hold resonance over its scene, it is up to us – employing a poetic catchphrase – to heed the call. It is how we are existing, in our day to day situations, which needs to be seen as significant within our surroundings.

If Oswald’s A Sleepwalk on the Severn (a superb title, it must be noted, to establish the unconscious relationship we have with our lives) is a success, it unites the vision of man with the situation of nature, and speaks through a voice which becomes spellbindingly lucid, and impossible to ignore. Once the book begins, and the voice of the moon instructs us to ‘Listen this is not the ordinary surface river’, it becomes hard to throw away images of ‘mighty angels of purgatory / Who come solar powered into darkness’, and it remains fruitful to hear the sight of the Severn ‘like a huge repeating mechanism / Banging and banging on the jetty.’

These reminders ghost us through the remaining pages, watching over our responsibility as we determine how it is we let Oswald’s seven voices register. And whether now we can still be described as a member of the unconcerned public; or, instead, realise that ‘reading’ today with a more thoughtful, proactive intelligence, will be entirely upto us.

To find out more regarding the issues surrounding the Severn Estuary, please visit www.severnestuary.net

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