SECTION TWELVE
POETRY REVIEWS
sm
COLUMN
SEVENTY, APRIL 1, 2002
(Copyright © 2002 Al Aronowitz)
[Still partially paralyzed from his freak
auto accident last fall and still unable to speak because of his tracheotomy
collar, Ralph Haselmann Jr. at this writing is accepting visitors at the
Summit Ridge Rehabilitation Center at 100 Summit Avenue in West Orange, New
Jersey, where he still faces months more of recuperation and rehabilitation.]
Fall
2000, Lucid Moon Website, http://www.lucidmoonpoetry.com
BOX
OF ROCKS ISSUE ONE
Box
Of Rocks Issue One,
October 2000, Mini-chap of prose and short stories by various authors, 4" x
5", 88 pages, free/trade, send submissions to Box
Of
Rocks, P.O. Box 841, Bloomington, IN 47402-0841, e-mail chadredden@hotmail.com
. This is a cool little zine of short stories by authors such as Maria Kazalia,
Dan Buck, M.J. Dykes, Jason George, Mandi J. Priest, Marcia Renee Goodman, V.
Moxious and Chad Redden. The illustrations were cool 1950's parodies, and the
short stories were interesting as well, a kaleidoscope of styles. Most touching
was Goodman's Flesh, about a woman who becomes drawn to a dress in a window shop
and the shopowner whose daughter the dress belonged to. A masterful little
story, very poignant. Dan Buck's little micro stories are wacky, you don't know
if he's aware that he's being facetious or not! The other stories were cool too.
I found Maria Kazalia to be abrasive as usual, a little hard to take. Overall a
good collection of writings. This is a quirky little publication, and it's
available free or as a trade. Send your stories and send some money, I'd like to
read future issues.
THE
CANNABIS POET
The
Cannabis Poet: A World Of Smoke by Lee Bridges.
Poetry book, 2000, 64 pages, $7 to Dave Christy, Alpha Beat Press, 31 Waterloo
Street, New Hope, PA 18938 Another charming meditation on love, smoking reefer
in coffeehouses in Amsterdam, and just being alive and soaking it all in, by The
Cannabis Poet, Lee Bridges. Long Overdue reads: "In the silence
in the darkness in the loneliness there is you In the distance in the yonder in
the nothingness there is you In the evenings in the mornings when lofty skies
are warm and blue Your nearness is indeed a long time overdue." Lee is a
gentle poet; his activism for legalizing pot worldwide is a good cause. His
cheerfulness is catching, let it roll all over you and touch your heart.
CITY
OF POETS
City
Of Poets
(18 Boston Voices), Poetry anthology by various Boston area poets, 2000, 106
pages, $10 Douglas Holder, Singing Bone Press, 33 Ibbetson Street, Somerville,
MA, 02143. A fine collection of diverse poetic voices, too many good poems to
single out, but Rufus Goodwin's poems sang to me the most. His poem As
Evening Walks By reads: "Sleep, for there are no abstractions in sleep,
no empty thoughts in dreams--so dream. Askance, the dancer is at once her dance.
Picture and sign become one: Light: the breath of the mind. Belief: the leaf
strewn, lovelit lane. Walk here, in arbored shade, sunset on a balcony of sky.
Quick, come as the passing swallow, even as evening walks away. Sleep, for there
are no abstractions in sleep, no empty thoughts in dreams--so dream.
Askance." That's as lush and beautiful as a Kleenex forest! Many other good
poets as well. Kudos to Douglas Holder and Singing Bone Press/Ibbetson St. Press
for putting together such a refreshing collection of poetry.
CHOPSTIX
NUMBERS
Chopstix
Numbers,
Poetry book by Craig Cotter, 2000, 86 pages, $12 from
Ahsahta Press, Dept. Of English, Boise State University, 1910 University
Drive, Boise, Idaho 83725. I enjoyed this wistful, sweet and sour collection of
poetry musings told in the persona of a gay Asian male. The main character
obsesses about sex and about his weight and cruises the local nightspot,
Chopstix. The poems are told in diary journal entries. 4/22/96 reads "Chopstix.
Gay Asian saturday nights only. west hollywood?other nights straight. My shape
is as unpleasant as this disco music & the filipino drag queen, 19, in white
hot pants, white tube top, mandatory black spikes, his tattoos & straight
shoulder length black hair a cigarette holder. Cube glass wall giving me the
acid trip view of santa monica boulevard green & purple stars and can I make
out an international house of pancakes? I'm first in Chopstix watching 15 young
asians set up for Saturday night…" The poems were
matter-of-fact, straightforward, warm and funny, and I dreamt I had an Asian
boyfriend after reading this collection! With all the sex going on, Aids is seen
as ominous, but just another precaution. A lot of the sex comes out of massage
sessions and the atmosphere is casual. A night world far apart from my own
sheltered existence. I enjoyed this collection immensely, it's the type of
writing that can be revisited with new insights picked up on each time you
reread it. I highly recommend Chopstix Numbers.
THE
COLLECTED POEMS
The
Collected Poems,
Poetry book by Stanley Kunitz, 2000, 284 pages, $27.95, available at your local
bookstore or by special order. Stanley Kunitz is now 95 and Poet Laureate; he
writes lyrical verse, and this is a strong collection spanning from 1928 to the
present, with excerpts from all his major poetry collections. The poems are
academic, but some are really poetic and come alive with beautiful turns of
phrases. Most exceptional is When The Light Falls from This Garland, Danger,
Selected Poems 1928-1958: "When the light falls, it falls on her in
whose rose-gilded chamber a music strained through mind turns everything to
measure. The light that seeks her out finds answering light within, and the two
join hands and dance on either side of her skin. The lily and the swan attend
her whiter pride, while the courtly laurel kneels to kiss his mantling bride.
Under each cherry-bough she spreads her silken cloths at the rumour of a wind,
to gather up her deaths, for the petals of her heart are shaken in a night,
whose ceremonial art is dying into light." These poems are from another
era, old fashioned in rhyme, meter, etc, but they are a nice antidote to what
passes for much of poetry today! Highly recommended.
DANCING
WITH THE ONE-ARMED MAN
Dancing
With The One-Armed Man,
poetry chapbook by Alison Pelegrin, 2000, 36 pages, $6 from Slipstream, Box
2071, Niagara Falls, NY 14301. Poet Alison Pelegrin weaves quiet tales of
desolation, all couched in rich detail and character illustration. She writes
about her mother, her uncle Earl, Eunice and other characters that seem ordinary
but have a hint of star power. She dances in the title poem with a one-armed man
who moves gracefully across the floor like a Fred Astaire. Reading the poem, you
almost wish she was with the real Astaire, then his one arm wouldn't matter. The
title poem reads: "He spins me, and his one good arm is stronger than I
thought. I can see through his yellow oxford--a ribbed undershirt, air beneath
his elbow. When he turns me to his chest I feel the crinkle of his pocket full
of peppermints. The tobacco smell he's steeped in wraps around us like a sweet
cherry sheet. Heavy and misshapen, the half-arm hooks my waist, and his eyes
push me backwards in a waltz. His leather shoes whisper across the floor until
they barely touch, and when the song is over we keep moving. I'm afraid he'll
dance away my legs or twist me into spins until I vanish. Then he's have to
cover up my stumbling the way I've poised my right arm to hide his empty
sleeve."
"The
tobacco smell he's steeped in" is a good description, and it is often
smells that reconnect us to memories of a time and place long ago. Alison
Pelegrin makes her memories ours. A fine collection.
DREAMS
AT THE AU BON PAIN
Dreams
At The Au Bon Pain,
poetry chapbook by Douglas Holder, 20 pages, 1999, $2 from Doug Holder at
Ibbetson St. Press, 33 Ibbetson Street, Somerville, MA 02143. These poems are
not pretty--musings about the psychiatric ward, of J. Edgar Hoover getting
reamed up the ass, of wrestling his father in the nude, of memories of Auschwitz
death camps--it all makes for some pretty powerful imagery---dreams or nightmares
or musings at the caf? Au Bon Pain--a real place or a fictional state of mind. A
Lucien Freud Nude reads: "Her head thrown back in abandon---the legs
like generous thick shanks of beef. The breasts--large and flat lay deflated on
the corpulent folds of her stomach. What does she welcome? Or welcomed? Spread
like pastry lard on a couch looking into the heavens for some piercing answer
through the barriers of undulating flesh." Douglas Holder is a fine poet,
and here he comes up with poems we may not want to read about, but we surely
must admire his style and talent.
FOOLING
WITH WORDS
Fooling
With Words,
A Celebration Of Poets And Their Craft poet interviews by Bill Moyers.
1999, 230 pages, hardcover, $20 available in bookstores or by special order.
Here the gentle voice of PBS, Bill Moyers interviews eleven poets at the
Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Waterloo, New Jersey in 1998, including
Coleman Barks, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Mark Doty, Deborah Garrison, Jane Hirshfield,
Stanley Kunitz, Kurtis Lamkin, Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, Paul Muldoon, Marge Piercy
and Robert Pinsky. No underground Beat poets here, just erudite musings with
academic poets. Still, a rich tapestry of poems, interviews, words and ideas.
Coleman Barks comments on how the mind makes poetic connections: "The way
images and rhythms and sound clusters work on us and through us is complicated
and hidden deep in the DNA. There's an innate, mysterious core to the poetic
talent, a genius that can't be explained, which doesn't mean we aren't aware of
it. We hear it, and we can celebrate it. The thing is to just sit, or walk
around, and fiddle with language, listen to language, and see what turns up. Let
yourself be open. I like "form? that feels left open." Fine
conversations with Mark Doty and Robert Pinsky as well, the then-Poet Laureate.
This is a great little book worth many readings. I met Bill Moyers at a book
signing in Clinton, New Jersey for this book and he signed my copy, "For
Ralph, a kindred spirit." I gave him some of my poems to read and fully
expect to be among the next volume of poets he interviews!
THE
GLANCE
The
Glance (Songs Of Soul-Meeting) Poetry book By Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks.
Hardcover, 1999, 99 pages, $18, available at your local bookstore or by special
order. Jelaluddin Rumi was a 12th century Persian poet who had a
life-transforming meeting with Shams of Tabriz; they became close friends and
soul mates and Rumi started writing his poetry, 3000 poems in all; about 1000
are translated so far. With this volume Rumi writes about love and deep
friendship. The poems are good but I wanted them to be somehow more majestic and
mystical. Only a few of the poems in this volume are exceptional. One that is
excellent, What Is The Heart, reads: "What is the heart? It is not
human, and it is not imaginary. I call it you. Stately bird, who one moment
combines with this world, and the next, and passes through the boundary to the
unseen. The soul cannot find you because you are the soul's wings, how it moves.
Eyes cannot see you: you are the source of sight. You're the one thing
repentance will not repent, nor news report. Spring comes: one seed refuses to
germinate and start being a tree. One poor piece of wood blackens but will not
catch fire. The alchemist wonders at a bit of copper that resists turning to
gold. Who am I that I'm with you and still myself? When the sun comes up, the
complicated nightmind of the constellations fades. Snowforms do not last through
July. The heart-quality embodied by our master, Shams Tabriz, will always
dissolve the old quarrel between those who believe in the dignity of a human
being's decisions and those who claim they're an illusion." I was
disappointed in what I was led to believe was a terrific mystical poet. The bulk
of this book is just ordinary. I'll have to read other Rumi collections to be
convinced of his greatness. In the Islamic world, Rumi is akin to Kahlil Gibran
or Walt Whitman. From what I've read so far I'll say he's not in their class,
not by a long shot. I'll get back to you on this poet!
THE
LANGUAGE OF LIFE
The
Language Of Life,
A Festival Of Poets poetry interviews by Bill Moyers. 1995, Softcover, 450
pages, $18.95, available at your local bookstore or by special order. If Fooling
With Words is a primer, this is an encyclopedia of interviews with prominent
poets, including W. S. Merwin, Claribel Alegria, James A. Autry, Jimmy Santiago
Baca, Coleman Barks, Robert Bly, Marilyn Chin, Lucille Clifton, William
Stafford, Victor Hernandaz Cruz, Rita Dove, Carolyn Forche, Donald Hall, Joy
Harjo, Michael S. Harper, Robert Haas, Garrett Kaoru Hongo, Sharon Olds, Jane
Kenyon, Stanley Kunitz, Li-Young Lee, Linda McCarriston, Sandra McPherson, David
Mura, Naomi Shihab Nye, Adrienne Rich, Galway Kinnell, Gary Snyder, Gerald
Stern, Sekou Sundiata, Mary Tallmountain, Quincy Troupe, Daisy Zamora, and
Octavio Paz. This book is indispensible for the ideas and images presented, a
must read for every serious poet. A companion video series exists which ran on
PBS.
LOST
LEDGE
Lost
Ledge,
poetry book by Mokuo Nagayama, 1999, 84 pages, $10 The Zion Press, 165-83,
Arise, Ikawadani-cho Nishi-ku, Kobe, 651-2113 Japan. A thoughtful collection of
delicate verse about mountain climbing and taking in the vastness of it all. Sleepless
Night reads: "There falls upon me a night longer than a trail heavier
than a burden and colder than frost Head just laid on the knapsack eyes gazing
at the darkness ears trying to listen to the voice of silence Turns and twists
of the body on the bare floor make the soul slip away to tread a frozen path
picking up mountain fragments calling up mountain memories." The author
comes up with some beautiful turns of phrases and meditations on hiking. A
breath of fresh air.
PET
FOODS
Pet
Food Some
words by Catfish McDaris. Mini poetry chap, 2000, 20 pages, $2 to Showerhead
Press, C/O Josh Filan, 9430 Claire Ave, Northridge, CA 91324. Catfish McDaris is
a hilarious amigo, his poems are witty and fresh. This is a cute but somewhat
slight production, with 5 poems and some Pizza Hut coupons woven into the
binding! Most funny was Birdman From Albuquerque, about trying to get rid
of some pigeons resting on the roof. I'd like to read some meatier full-length
collections of McDaris' work, but this is a charming gem.
POEMS
FROM 42ND STREET
Poems
From 42nd Street,
Poetry book by Rufus Goodwin with drawings by Phyllis Yampolsky. 2000, 96 pages,
$6 from Doug Holder at Ibbetson St. Press, 33 Ibbetson Street, Somerville, MA
02143. This is a beautiful book with charming drawings. The typeface seems
handwritten, a nice effect. Each poem is about the poem taking the form of
something else--42nd street, a caf?, a desk, prison walls, a winding road. The
language is soft and subtle and rich. Down The Road reads: "The car,
swallowed up by night, was headed somewhere, somewhere, down the long road of
hindsight from where I used to care. This was a bygone place out by an ancient
garden that wore a familiar face where God gave the first pardon. The night was
full of soft talk about the future of true love, and I almost got out to walk in
the direction I was thinking of. But the car kept moving to the radio, the
future just wouldn't stop, the darkness itself was on the go so I simply put
down the canvas top. A star seemed so high to climb might have followed it out
of mind, but memories of forgotten time had me driving almost blind. No, the
future was yet, yes, yet to come, a destination where we unload the love that
miles away some one waits for on the winding road." These poems, taken
together, take you into their world on a journey into the long good night.
Highly recommended.
STAIN
Stain,
poetry cd by T. Anders Carson. 2000, 38 minutes, see website for price and
ordering information http://www.members.tripod.com/TACARSON
. This is a wonderful poetry collection read by poet T. Anders Carson, full of
vitality and life, poetic musings and wistful memories. Each poem is full of
ideas that stay with you long after the cd ends. What a refreshing breath of
fresh air, compared to the nerdy noodlings of Charles Ardinger, reviewed
elsewhere. This is poetry that sings. Highly recommended.
YOU
HEAR ME?
You
Hear Me? Poems and Writing by Teenage Boys, edited by Betsy Franco. $14.99, 2000, 108 pages,
hardcover, available at your local bookstore or by special order. This is a
moving collection of fierce poetic words by voices dying to be heard. The
streets are a lonely place, even the schoolyard where bullies abound. Most
touching was the essay by Nick Sletten, age 13, called Being Beat Up.
Nick has Tourettes Syndrome, a little understood disease that causes facial and
vocal tics and sometimes uncontrolled cursing. I have a friend who suffers from
Tourettes so I know the teasing and taunting one has to endure. The teenagers
represented here are angry, defiant, horny and vulnerable. Out Of My Life
by Corey Edge, age 17, reads: "I want my grandmother to stop sending me to
the store with fifty dollars worth of bottles not sold in Michigan. I want my
grandfather to stop telling the same war stories that begin at breakfast and end
after dinner. I want the Kool-Aid to stop disappearing in one hour. I want the
ice trays to stay filled. I want the only bathroom in the house to be free for
me when nature calls. I want big Ms. Whitaker to stop wearing that frizzy wig
and pink dress that barely covers what only her husband needs to see. I want
this to
be the last
stanza of this poem so I can burn this worn down pencil and inhale the
ashes." Thank God there is only one rap poem, but this book prevents a
diversity of styles and moods. A fine way to get inside what teenagers are
thinking today. Editor Betsy Franco has also done a companion volume for teenage
girls called Sharing Secrets. Both highly recommended.
THE
WHO
The
Who
poetry cd by Charles Ardinger, 2000, 37 minutes, $10 to Robert Roden, Temporary
Vandalism, P. O. Box 6184, Orange, CA 92863. Charles Ardinger is an Orange
County poet who has somewhat of a following, and with this cd it's hard to see
why. He is the perpetual high school nerd, even doing a rap at one point. White
people can't rap. Somewhere between a Beat poet and an abstract modern poet,
Charles muses on a variety of subjects that catch your attention. He uses words
to sculpt a mood that evokes the ugliness of everyday life, but he has a dry
sense of humour that offsets the ugliness. Still, this cd bored me to death. I
longed for majestic poetry after hearing this, instead of mundane poetry that
celebrated the banality of life.
Please send poetry books, chapbooks, cds, broadsides
or whatever for review to Ralph Haselmann Jr. at 67 Norma Road, Hampton, New
Jersey 08827. Include price plus
postage, who to make check out to, and address to order from.
I will review them within 2 weeks and send you a copy of the review.
Publishers have my permission in advance to reprint any part of my
reviews as long as they send me a copy of what it appears in.
The reviews go out to several small press discussion lists, including
David McNamara's poetry )ism( list, Doug Holder's list, Kelly DeSaint's list,
J.J. Campbell's list and Frank Moore's list, after which they will be archived
on my Lucid Moon Poetry Website. My reviews are also picked up by 5 websites,
including Al Aronowitz' The Blacklisted
Journalist website (http://www.bigmagic.com/pages/blackj),
Joe Grant's BookZen website (http://www.bookzen.com/
), Andre Cordrescue's Exquisite
Corpse, (http://www.exquisitecorpse.org),
Carlye Archibeque's The Independent Review Site (http://www.irs.theroadlesstraveled.org),
Brian Morrisey's Poesy magazine and website (http://www.geocities.com/bmorrise2/)
Don Hoyt's Web Writer's Workshop
(http://www.webwritersworkshop.com).
My telephone number is (908) 735-4447, e-mail ralphy@lucidmoonpoetry.com
and my Lucid Moon Poetry Website is http://www.lucidmoonpoetry.com.
Please visit my website often and sign my guestbook!
Ralph Haselmann Jr. ##
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