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The Storm
by Mark Lipman
53 Poems ~ 19 Illustrations ~ 112 pages
Price: $18.95
Publisher: Vagabond
ISBN: 978-1-958307-02-1
To Order: Vagabondbooks
Reviewed by Michael Escoubas
Mark Lipman’s new collection displays one of the ripest minds among social critics writing today. About Lipman, Dan Speers, Poet Laureate of Haverhill, MA, writes:
“Whether you are searching for answers to questions
about life, or maybe even just hoping to make sense
out of each day in the face of constant stress and turmoil,
… The Storm, is your must-read book of the year.”
Indeed, in case you haven’t noticed or have been living underground in recent days, a storm is circling all around us. Lipman’s mission is to “get into our collective faces,” to wake us up, to shake us from our complacent selves and state:
We have known this for quite some time.
The question before us is how do we weather it?
My goal in this review is two-fold:
One: Provide a context for where the poet is coming from, and
Two: Suggest a perspective on Lipman’s solutions.
Mark Lipman is no complainer; he is a truth-seeker. Solutions, for this poet, derive from a clear mind and clean heart. As illustrated in the image by Bansky: Lipman has both.
A Word About Style and Aesthetics
Among the appealing features of The Storm, is Lipman’s creative skill. His poems are conversational. If I were with him over coffee, his in-person voice would differ little, I suspect, from his poetic voice. He is comfortable with who he is, with where he is in life. His poems bear witness to a developed skill with poetic devices such as imagery, alliteration, internal rhyme, and end-rhyme skills. His original style dovetails with his convictions. Lipman is also a skilled ekphrastic craftsman. Nineteen judiciously placed artworks elevate and expand upon the themes Lipman wishes to accentuate.
Titles are important to Lipman: “An Act of Resistance,” “The Day the Guillotine Smiled,” “To Love Like a Poet,” “At the Edge of the World,” and “When They Came to Break the Sticks,” enticed me to feed on the banquet after tasting the hors d’oeuvres! The serving line is long indeed.
Context
Lipman’s preface sets his tone. “The Perfect Storm,” describes lessons learned from a year-and-a-half of traveling the world. As Lipman states: “It was cheaper to go on an endless adventure than it was paying rent.” During his travels, Lipman discovered fresh insights about cultures and peoples, built new friendships through music, poetry and the arts. He grew spiritually and intellectually in the process. Most importantly, the poet discovered that everywhere he went folks he met wanted similar things out of life: basic necessities, respect and dignity based on our shared humanity. A note of sarcasm is evident as well: the poet states, “no matter what government you live under, it’s always the rich oppressing the poor … some things are just universal that way.”
Perspectives
Although, Lipman is razor sharp in his criticism, his heart shows love in the midst of it all. “If for Nothing Else,” is one example:
Some things are just eternal
like the stars and time
they have no beginning
and they have no end
and though I’m here
for just a moment
only a droplet
in the ocean of everything
temporal and impermanent
I take solace in the knowledge
that I was put here for a reason
that somehow I’m connected
to that great infinity
that what happens in this life
is no accident, that it has meaning
and even if I don’t understand
all the how’s and why’s
I know that some things
were just meant to be
that some things
will just go on forever
for if nothing else
we were made
to love each other.
As a person who loves his country, I appreciated this poem. Depending on party affiliation, individuals and news outlets, are devoted to finger-pointing and blame-placing. They delight in human failings that can be used as sharpened spears to discredit their political opponents. I have not described Mark Lipman.
In poems such as “In the Name of …” Lipman’s concerns, punctuated by anger, reach the page:
They bomb hospitals
They bomb schools
They bomb seed banks
threatening the very survival of this world
All in the name of peace
…
They call for war
and ever expanding
military budgets
while leaving their people
hungry and poor
All in the name of profits
Key words in this poem of 48 lines: peace, freedom, profits, god, justice and democracy, for Lipman, are merely excuses designed to justify the narrow political-power interests of a few. While there is room for disagreement on his premises, Lipman has a point. We do ourselves a disservice if we turn a deaf ear to his entreaties. Virtually no aspect of American life escapes the poet’s keen eye and erudite analysis.
I return to goal #2 at the beginning of this review: Suggest a perspective on Lipman’s solutions. My perspective streams seamlessly with Bansky’s provocative painting above. Note the figure of a child. Note the shovel and plant potted in soil. I recall a saying in the Bible … unless you become like this little child … note the wise saying inscribed on the wall. Yes, folks, we have work to do. Let’s do it together.
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