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No Matter How It Ends
by E.J. Rode
56 Poems ~ 101 Pages
Format: 6’’ x 9’’ ~ Perfect Bound
Publisher: Meadowlark Press
ISBN: 978-1956578-30-0
To Order: Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble
Reviewed by Michael Escoubas
The following quote by e.e. cummings captures a principle I believe to be embedded in E.J. Rode’s superb new collection, No Matter How It Ends:
“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting.”
Only the poet can affirm if the above dictum applies to her life or to what degree her poetry bears its influence. As I worked my way through the poems, I developed a strong sense that E.J. Rode has not only engaged cummings’ battle but continues to do so. My goal in this review is to support that sense and prove its truth.
No Matter How It Ends is organized into four headings: One (15 poems), Two (18), Three (19), and Four (14). While avoiding structural rigidity, I see section One as reflections on “Family”; section Two echoes life’s “Ironies”; section Three portrays the “Pathos” of life; and finally, section Four explores life’s “Simple Joys.” These are general delineations. E.J. Rode cannot be run into a corner.
“The Morning After,” serves as Rode’s preface, sets a tone, and to some degree, includes all the areas referenced above. I share it in full:
Love is always a miracle
no matter how it ends
for a time we walk
with the sun on our faces
warmed deeper than our skin
we are new
shocked from complacency
rousted from bitterness
by this unexpected grace
this movable feast
we’ve forever hungered for
how sweet at last to savor
with no cast shadow
of what will come
no matter how it ends
we begin believing
always awake
praying for a miracle
I lingered here savoring the poem’s wide emotional sweep. With “The Morning After,” serving as a tiller or rudder, I felt empowered to navigate Rode’s river of life. Speaking of lingering, you won’t want to miss the poem entitled, “Linger.” It is about rain coming through and leaving a “lingering / wet kiss / on the lawn.” The ending is well worth the lingering!
Rode’s style is predominantly free verse. With that said, the work shows impressive variety: couplets, tercets, long lines, short lines, poems with interesting indentations, and word spacing. End-line decisions are impeccable. When rhymes are used, they fall naturally, almost musically. There is a complete lack of self-consciousness in Rode’s work. By that I mean her heart is doing the writing. Poems develop out of her considered life experiences. By the time they get to paper, she has had time to think about them, to step back and work through the circumstances which gave rise to each poem.
“Moon Dance” is a dreamy, contemplative poem in which “Poetry tumbles / from the barrel of my pen.” This is about the poet’s creative processes, which at times resemble my own!
“best regards” channels e.e. cummings, showing his lower-case style, ampersands and wild indentations. In fact the poem begins “my dear old ampersand.” It is as if cummings is with her as she writes.
“Sunset” is an intensely personal poem; as the end nears, she will “remember / every evening walk / without regret / the same way I’ll remember / my hand against your skin / never wishing / I had touched you less.”
Rode uses a range of poetic devices. Irony is one of them. “Breaking” shares opinions that perhaps many harbor about the “information highway”:
The evening news
casts a shadow across
Over and over again I find
myself lost
Nightmare the debt too large
to be paid
Nightmare lives lost to
the games that are played
Nightmare the spinning words
that spew nonstop
That stink of sulfur and lava
death and rot
I pour the wine and close
my eyes
Even the truth has learned
how to lie
I opened this review with “The Morning After,” an overview poem that anchors the collection. The volume closes with “Advice to My Invisible Self.” If “The Morning After,” guides us down the river, this poem ties the boat to the pier. Here is an excerpt:
Tell your mind to hush,
and listen to your heart.
Write the poems [of your life]*
you fear no one else will like.
*Reviewer’s emendation.
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