Patrick Jones' Fuse/Fracture: A Review

One of the best poets of the modern era, Patrick Jones’ work Fuse/Fracture (Poems 2001-2021) is a collection of some of his finest pieces spanning three decades. While forever tied to rock band Manic Street Preachers, of which his brother Nicky Wire is the bassist/lyricist, Patrick deserves to be recognised for the brilliance of his own writing. It’s easy to see how he had such a large impact on the young Manics, and fans of the band will enjoy finding parallels between the way that their lyrics and Jones’ poetry are written. Informed by the world around him, Jones’ poetry spans a range of topics— from fatherhood to grief, war to Welsh identity and independence; there truly is something that will resonate with everyone.

The writer’s Welsh background becomes painfully clear within the first section of the book with one of the best pieces in this collection: She Threatens to Leave the Union. While a more basic “abusive-marriage-as-a-representation-of-the-England/Wales-relationship” forms the basis of this poem, it is done in a way where parallels can be drawn so well that it doesn’t matter if the trope is almost worn out. References are made to the erasure of Cymraeg at the hands of the English government, quickly followed by a thinly-veiled metaphor regarding attitudes towards Welsh independence creates a clear image for the reader: the “union” between the two nations is built upon the suppression of the Welsh people and will continue to function on this basis until one breaks away. 

Delving back into his early adulthood in post-industrial Wales, he gives us glimpses into the impact of the coal mining industry (and its subsequent death post-strike). For those who did not grow up in this time, or in the regions of Wales and England most affected by the pit closures, pieces like Demonstrations for Existence are a stark wake-up call to the reality of the situation. In the South Wales Valleys that Jones grew up in, the coal pits were the largest employer; their closures brought generations of men into a frantic job search that often led them into factory work. It is hard to retrain out of a manual field, so miners who had spent decades in the pits had little-to-no-chance of getting an office job— they were left for the likes of Aiwa. 

In the way that only Jones and Wire seem to be capable of, political issues become the focus of several poems throughout the book. One Million Blankets makes us consider the full impact of war and the futility of humanitarian aid in the face of such atrocities. Jones’ anger can be felt through the words on the pages, making us wonder why we allow these things to happen. Migration is also touched upon, a topic now highly-contentious in mainstream politics. His frustration is plain as day as he lashes out at Western ignorance to the situations that drive people to seek asylum. The earliest example of this is Their Life on Their Heads (published 1997), which serves as a reminder of just how long this debate has been going on for. More recently, Driftwood (Lives) takes on the modern-day arguments against asylum seekers in such a way it is hard to disagree with Jones. Dismantling arguments used by politicians with relative ease, the poem draws on the reader’s compassion and shared humanity to combat anti-migration sentiments seen across the political spectrum today. 

Fuse/Fracture is a sometimes-eclectic, always-brilliant collection of poetry spanning almost the entirety of Patrick Jones’ time as a published writer. He deals with pressing social and political issues in such an eloquent way, almost reminiscent of Dylan Thomas in the richness of the language, but in an easier way to understand for the 21^st Century reader. A poem about what appears to be such a current issue will be written in the 1990s or very early 2000s— truly a sign that Jones is often ahead of the times.

Cover image courtesy of Parthian Books.