I went through old hard drives, notebooks, and the web to find all the poetry Iâve written. Itâs not a lot, about 60 or so, but it was fun looking for them and revisiting some Iâd not thought about for a few decades.This book is sort of a âcollected worksâ edition. Some of the poems Iâve worked hard on and some of them were written in less than a minute. I think I tend to like those the best. There are one or two that I set out to do something very specific and I think I accomplished that. Could they all be better? Of course. Are any of them great? One is. I could work for another 30 years on some of theseâthatâs how poetry goes. But at some point, to steal a phrase from dayjob-land, you gotta ship it.
I went through old hard drives, notebooks, and the web to find all the poetry Iâve written. Itâs not a lot, about 60 or so, but it was fun looking for them and revisiting some Iâd not thought about for a few decades.This book is sort of a âcollected worksâ edition. Some of the poems Iâve worked hard on and some of them were written in less than a minute. I think I tend to like those the best. There are one or two that I set out to do something very specific and I think I accomplished that. Could they all be better? Of course. Are any of them great? One is. I could work for another 30 years on some of theseâthatâs how poetry goes. But at some point, to steal a phrase from dayjob-land, you gotta ship it.
There is a roll of not-forever stampsÂ
in the glove compartment.
Not many on the roll, perhaps ten or so.
They've been there for years and
they are stuck together.
Years of heat andÂ
years of coldÂ
have bound them into a ring.
A never-ending line of three-cents-short,Â
sticky pieces of paper andÂ
they are worthlessÂ
for any sort of correspondence delivery.
And it reminds me of us.
Poetry Works, Mostly is the âcollected worksâ edition of âabout 60 or soâ poems that represent a span of several years. âOne of them is great,â says the author in the Introduction. âThis book is a word temple,â he continues, âAt least, it wants to be.â
And it succeeds.
Many of these poems are brief, bite-sized ruminations and reflections on ordinary life or life events. Think of written âsound bitesâ or âclipsâ from everyday life. Theyâre-infused with bright, bold Technicolor in this collection of witty and thought-provoking verse. This includes everything from not-forever stamps to memories, âmaybe itâs ADHD,â the dentist, âred lines of time,â Spring, âshe likes water in her wine,â Daisy the cat, âWhich witch is whatâ and âan upside-down and dark sonnetâ Shakespeare/Horror Lit combo. Also clam chowder and the âOne Slipper philosophy.â
Some poems rhyme. Others are free verse. Pithy observations appear in verse thatâs sometimes as spare as a scarecrow. At others, it's as loquacious as a talk show host. Â Stand-outs include Snake and Poodle, Theyâre AALL Linden Trees, and Raven Brought the Sun. The Take That entries, a series of poems directed at authors such as Flaubert, Burroughs, and Dostoevsky, is both revelatory, provocative, smart, and deliciously sassy. Â
The writing style has a tongue in cheek wit about it that crackles, pops, and often pierces as the author ably and expertly packs truckloads of emotion and passion into a few brief lines. Perhaps the most searingly poignant and powerful entry in the entire collection is the final poem, Unfortunately. (Bring tissue.)
At about one hundred and twenty-five pages, this collection of poetry, mostly can easily be read in an afternoon. But itâs worth at least a whole day. In fact, if the mere notion of âpoetryâ makes you want to jump up and run screaming from the room, give Poetry Works, Mostly a chance. Itâs different. Itâs fresh. Itâs worth the time