Poet as Storyteller by Theresa Gauthier

 A Review of Olivia Harrison's Came the Lightening: Twenty Poems for George

There are certain things Beatles fans always ask each other when they first meet. The first is "Who's your favorite?" My sister's standard answer is that she has no favorite and loves them all equally. I admit—I tease her about it, but I believe her. 

George Harrison is my Beatle. Everyone has a favorite and George is mine. I always admired his talent with a guitar and his songwriting but there’s so much more to it. George Harrison lived his life in pursuit of a spiritual truth. He wanted to know God, to be with God, to embrace God. 

His path was his own, and no one but he and God are fit to judge it. What I admired so much was his willingness to be so open about his spiritual journey, to sing rock and roll songs about it, to get rock and roll songs about God into the top ten. Who else could do that to the degree that he did?

George’s death was a blow to his fans, but for his family to lose someone they loved, they depended on, they knew as only family can know him—the devastation of that loss is something only those who have grieved such loss can understand—and even the, everyone’s loss and grieving process is unique. We all react to loss in different ways, and even those ways may vary depending on who we lose, and how, and when.

Olivia Harrison’s loss was public. It was news. George’s death made headlines across the globe, but whatever we fans felt, it was nothing next to what Olivia and Dhani Harrison must have felt.

Many people have wondered if Olivia might write a book about her life—some sort of detailed autobiography explaining what life was like living with a man who was one quarter of the world’s most famous band. While I also hoped for such a thing, I've always thought it unlikely. George and Olivia have always been private people. What we did get was so much more than a book would have been.

Olivia’s book, Came the Lightening: Twenty Poems for George, is a collection of poems she’s written—I’m guessing—perhaps as part of her grieving process. Each one describes, in varying detail, something about her life with George. References to her life before George, references to The Beatles, to gardening, to Friar Park, to Eric Clapton and George’s ex-wife Pattie Boyd—it’s all in there. Every detail fans would have wanted to see discussed in depth in a traditional autobiography is mentioned here. 

I would have read it in one sitting except for the fact that I forced myself to slow down and savor each word thinking about it as I read. 

She manages to convey so much in just a few lines, telling the story of her life, of the life she shared with George, the early days, the married days, meeting Eric Clapton and George's first wife, Pattie Boyd. You can understand the grief she must feel, and the terror as she relates what happened when George was attacked in their home. In the end, poetry is more about emotion than any other form of writing. At least, I always thought so. Even so, I hadn't expected these to be so laden with the raw emotions Olivia must have endured after losing George. I think I expected it to be a bit more of a suggestion, a hint of what happened rather than the stark, raw reality.

 I did tear up. I don’t see how anyone could read such personal reminiscences without shedding a few tears. I marvel at Olivia’s willingness to share so much. In some ways a traditional autobiography might have been less personal. I do find Olivia’s poetry revealing, poignant, and I’m grateful to her for sharing it.