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Short Reviews by Charles P. Ries ~*~
Mighty Good Land Written
by Dan Powers ~*~
Shorts
Written by John Lehman ~*~
Playing Tennis with Antonioni Written
by Alan Catlin
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Three Short Reviews By Charles P. Ries On a good day luck dropped
three quality books of poetry in my mail box: Mighty Good Land by Dan Powers, Shorts by John
Lehman and Playing Tennis with Antonioni by Alan
Catlin. As I read these writers I was struck by what
opportunity the poetic form offers us; not just for expression, but for
experimentation. Powers, Lehman, and Catlin all write with eloquence,
yet in styles that are quite dissimilar. They hail from different parts
of the United States; one from the Midwest, the other from the South,
and the other a true blue Easterner. These geographic distinctions can
be heard in their poetry. In addition, each uses line structure very
differently, but to good purpose. I liked all three of these books, but
for very different reasons.
Mighty Good Land By: Dan Powers 52 Poems / 103 Pages
/ $12.95 Black Greyhound Media P.O. Box 40367
Nashville, TN 37204
I found it hard to believe that this was Dan Powers’ first
published book of poetry. These straightforward narrative poems are
told with restraint and clarity. Mighty Good Land is
all about the people and places in Power’s life; his wife,
his father, his children, the farm, the church, the home. They mirror
the reflections many of have as we look over the landscape of our life.
This is an excerpt from, “Good Earth and Poor”: The seasons and the planting
of seed – by nature the true work of out father – who never owned the piece of
land he wanted,
but it
was near, past the end of our field, and through the seasons he
watched it fall
piece by
piece into the hands of the subdividers. And with the half-smile of
given-up desire,
he would
say, “That was mighty good land.” And he would say it softly to
no one but himself while he held his hands dug deep into his pockets. And another from,
“Half-Light Off the Appalachian Trail”: I drive home as if alone,
blind in rain
and
headlights, you far away in stillness on your dark side of the
truck,
the
wipers slapping rhythm to the cold silences piling up between us like a
mountain
we
can’t see over, can’t climb, won’t try as long as it’s
raining.
There is no secret code
language or illusive imagery in these poems. The writer is personally
revealing with words that are clear-spoken. This is a fine first book
with poems reflecting a southern sensibility. Shorts 101 Brief Poems of
Wonder and Surprise By: John Lehman 101 Poems / 95
Pages / $11.95 Zelda Wilde Publishing 315 Water Street Cambridge, WI 53523
ISBN-13: 078-0-9741728-2-8 The poetry in this collection
is easy to read and assimilate – the themes are anchored in
the Midwest, but the conclusions are universal in significance. They
have a Haiku feel about them – starting the reader in one
place and leaving them suspended in another. Lehman is the master of
the understatement, as well as the third and most critical element of
poetry – the ending. With great skill he
takes a collection of common moments and elevates them. Many Haiku poets choose to
limit the quantity of the offerings in a particular book or collection,
wanting to give each poem space to reverberate with afterglow. In
Shorts, Lehman made the choice to pack them in - 101 to be
exact. I feel the sheer volume may have diluted the overall impact of
the book.
In his preface, Lehman notes,
“Shorts is the first book comprised
entirely of justified poems. This new form
– which I originated – capitalizes on the dynamics
between the spoken sentence and this intentionally-chosen line
break.” I am always a bit suspicious when a writer says they
created a new form. I realize poetry more then any other form of
writing is subject to the art of formatting (shall
we call it an obsession). But in this case
Lehman’s form serves its function well and presents his work
without the distraction of more ornate formatting strategies. Here are two examples of
Lehman’s justified poem (which I can’t quite do
justice to because my right margins are a bit ragged-edged; his are
not):
After My
Son’s Divorce Clouds above mountains form precipitous ranges in the sky. Moss-headed Salmon struggle upstream to lay their eggs then die. We head on motorcycles toward Turnagain Point. I wonder how far. And he wonders why. Another Sub-Zero
Night
“Once there were
birds,” I tell my pup, “a sun to warm your face and amazing things called flowers, that
would grow.” She shivers and urinates on the snow. This expansive collection of
short narrative poems is nimble and wise. Learned technique
and keen observational skill make this an enjoyable read. One can
almost visualize Lehman’s notebook crammed with quick
descriptions of the life around him, which fall under his expert hand
into Shorts. Playing Tennis with Antonioni By: Alan Catlin 27 Poems / 62
Pages / $15 March Street Press 3413 Wilshire Greensboro, North Carolina 27408
ISBN: 1-5966-021-2 Poets find food for
reflection in many things. These creative prompts
direct the themes and associations of their work. In, Playing
Tennis With Antonioni, Alan Catlin lands upon a charmed idea.
He marries the movies. In doing so, his poems become a cinematic
off-spring of sorts. This collection is imagery-rich as it sews
together, often colliding unions. The titles of Catlin’s
poems are telling: * Kurosawa’s
Deliverance * L.
Wertmuller’s Seven Beauties, Muscle Beach Bikini Party
* Alfred
Hitchcock’s To Hell and Back * Scorsese’s
Blair Witch Project
* Truffaut’s Mighty Joe Young Revisited Here is an excerpt from:
“Kubrick’s Dawn of the Living Dead:”
1 “Transcendent
creatures
existing
out of time,
spirits of the dead walking; zombies for designer footwear, clothes, invade a shopping mall. 2 Omega man on The run, there is Nowhere to hide: Full metal jackets, Body armor piercing Round are of no Use, the dead keep Walking, legions of Them like the Roman Armies sent to war. These are highly developed
works. Most I would characterize as word poems. They move down the page
with spare uncluttered prose reflecting the associations bubbling out
of the writers mind. Catlin is particularly adept at this, and I was
glad to see him take this “leap” from his more
narrative work. This is a nice study in blending siblings of the same
cinematic parent. ________________________ Charles P. Ries lives in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. His narrative poems, short stories, interviews and poetry
reviews have appeared in over one hundred and twenty print and
electronic publications. He has received three Pushcart Prize
nominations for his writing and most recently read his poetry on
National Public Radio’s Theme and Variations,
a program that is broadcast over seventy NPR affiliates. He
is the author of THE FATHERS WE FIND, a novel based on memory. Ries is
also the author of five books of poetry — the most recent
entitled, The Last Time which was released by The
Moon Press in Tucson, Arizona. He is the poetry editor for Word Riot (www.wordriot.org)
and on the board of the Woodland Pattern Bookstore in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. Most recently he has been appointed to the
Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission.
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