The Brussels Writers' Workshop (BWW) was delighted to welcome poet Paul Stephenson for an engaging presentation of his latest poetry collection, Hard Drive. Paul’s deeply moving exploration of grief, memory, and love offered a powerful reflection on the human experience. His work sparked thoughtful discussion and insight among attendees, making the session both emotionally resonant and deeply thought-provoking.
Who is Paul Stephenson?
Paul Stephenson is a poet whose work has garnered significant recognition for its emotional force and inventive form. Born in Cambridge, he studied modern languages and European Studies before embarking on a career that bridges both academic and poetic worlds. With a background that includes teaching, research, and numerous international publications, Paul brings a distinct voice to British poetry. His previous pamphlets, including The Days that Followed Paris, reflected on global events, but Hard Drive is his most personal collection to date.
Hard Drive: Poetry of Grief and Resilience
Paul Stephenson's debut poetry collection, Hard Drive, is a profound exploration of grief following the sudden death of his partner. Through inventive and varied forms, Stephenson captures the overwhelming emotions that accompany such a loss, from shock and sorrow to moments of reflection and resilience. The title itself plays on the metaphor of memory as something stored away, perhaps in a hard drive, where life’s precious moments are preserved but painfully inaccessible.
Poems like “When We Were a Jackson Pollock” bring a vibrant energy to the recollection of his relationship’s early days, juxtaposing the chaos of love with the void left by death.
Throughout the collection, Stephenson uses repetition, rhyme, and sharp imagery to depict the bureaucracy of death, the complexities of mourning, and the enduring presence of love. While grief looms large, Hard Drive also offers moments of tenderness and humour, demonstrating the poet’s ability to find light even in the darkest corners of loss. From poems that recall the joy of early love to those that confront the stark realities of death, Hard Drive resonates as a meditation on both the fragility and beauty of life.
The Group’s Reflection
The BWW participants were moved by Paul’s openness and the way he interweaves form and content to communicate the complexities of grief. The group discussed the challenge of translating such a profound experience of loss into poetry, focusing on how Paul’s work captures the disorienting chaos of bereavement while offering moments of clarity and reflection.
In the end, Hard Drive left the group inspired by how Paul Stephenson masterfully transforms life’s most challenging moments into poetry. The collection, though rooted in personal tragedy, demonstrates the power of language to convey deep emotion, blending grief with humanity, hope, and even humour—a skill that resonated strongly with the experienced writers in attendance.
