the seven-eight count of unstoppable sadness
Publisher: Puncher and Wattmann
Published: September 2023
Genre: Poetry
The evocative narrative within Marcella Polain’s the seven-eight count of unstoppable sadness delves into the inescapable depths of sorrow and the author’s search for love, gratitude, hope, and acceptance.
The collection is categorized into six sections (each part a count) with each exploring different interpersonal relationships and stages of sorrow in Polain’s life.
The title also uses a rhythmic ‘seven-eight count’ to imply a structured or measured approach to experiencing sadness. The term ‘unstoppable sadness’ suggests that the emotion is relentless, persistent, and overwhelming. The juxtaposition of a structured, rhythmic count with the uncontrollable nature of sadness reflects the tension between order and chaos, control and vulnerability, in the human experience of profound emotions.
Grief is one of the most profound emotions felt throughout the collection. Polain’s poetry conveys a sense of powerlessness or inability to control or mitigate the depth of sadness. In haunting, there is a lingering presence of a departed loved one, the struggle to find solace in memories:
all days have been your last – your
strike that sent me across the room your
kiss to the top of our mother’s head your
tyres on the gravel –
even the happy when I run
lift my face to sky I know is only sky
not curtain blue howl screen
when I don’t watch – there; no
there – for a glimpse of you
how much life it’s taken dim-witted me
to see why you will never come
to see I’ve done the haunting
the seven-eight count of unstoppable sadness serves as a lens through which to explore the complexities of sorrow. This exploration delves into the depths of despair while simultaneously hinting at the author’s desire for solace amidst the pain; knowing one cannot escape pain while still acknowledging one’s yearning for it to be lulled.