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Persons of Interest: Poetry & Prose
by Mark Fleisher
Format: 6′′ x 9′′ ~ Perfect Bound
13 Poems ~ 13 Short Stories ~ 100 pages
Price: $20.00
Publisher: Mercury HeartLink www.heartlink.com
ISBN #: 978-1-949652-35-2
To Order: Amazon.com
Reviewed by Michael Escoubas
One of my family regrets is that my ancestors kept scant records of their family trees, things such as countries of origin, reasons why they left for a better life here. It would have been nice to connect names to the yellow-edged photographs that lay on tables as we kids dutifully filled our paper plates at family reunions, accepted the hugs of old ladies with big bosoms, and sat quietly as the old folks spoke of times long past.
Mark Fleisher feels my pain! His lead essay, “Elias, I Hardly Knew You,” is full of interesting family details: countries of origin, dates, occupations, religious ties and more. I mention this because Mark is an interesting and professionally trained writer. He drew me in. Here is an example:
My grandfather was a complex man. On the one hand, he could be described as a stoic–a man of few words. He would sit silently at this kitchen table, reading the papers and sipping tea from a glass cup inserted into a Sterling silver holder. On the other hand, he and I forged an odd bond. He liked baseball and he would tell me about the New York Highlanders–they were the Yankees before they became the Yankees.
I have purposely left out any reference to the “Elias,” whom Fleisher hardly knew. Details about this interesting person, especially his mode of death, more than justifies the price of the book.
Throughout this well-designed collection featuring thirteen poems and thirteen essays, Mark is about creating lasting memories. This short, untitled quatrain sets a tone:
Those days created lasting memories
and now I bask in such sweet reveries
So take me back to Brooklyn, please
where I delight in a Coney Island breeze
Indeed, the poet’s focus, as suggested by the title, is on “Persons of Interest” who have impacted his life. I might also add places of interest as well. Detailed descriptions of “place” figure prominently throughout the collection.
It is impossible to turn to a bad story. “Tale of a Working Man,” is about Mark and his friend Marty Stein coming of age in 1950s Brooklyn. They traded “Topps” baseball cards, cheered for the Dodgers, knew which pitchers threw spitballs and copied their windup styles. Mark’s first job was putting cardboard strips on wire clothes hangers. Pay: one cent per item. Pretty close to child-labor exploitation, Mark thought in retrospect, but a pile of money for a kid in 1952. One day, Mr. Solomon, Mark’s boss, sent him on a laundry delivery to folks who lived in the rich part of town. Mark completed the delivery even though the hangers gouged into his young palms drawing a spot of blood. After handing off the heavy load something remarkable happened: The client pressed a twenty-dollar bill into Marks surprised hand. How many Topps baseball cards could a kid buy for twenty dollars?
“Singapore Fling” is about Mark’s stay in a Singapore hotel for a week of rest and recuperation after eight months as a Vietnam combat news reporter. Although all the stories are captivating, this one is chock-full of intrigue, surprising twists, humor, and danger. A must read for sure.
This nicely designed volume alternates in comfortable rhythms between prose and poetry. Poems appeared at just the moment when I wanted an interlude between stories.
Fleisher, already an award-winning poet with five poetry collections on the market, demonstrates his penchant for painting pictures with words in “Flashes of a Crimson Sun”:
Spanish settlers called
the mountains Sandia–
watermelon in gringo lingo–
for when days retreated
from afternoon to dusk
the evening sun turned crimson
the color flashing across the valley
to the craggy peaks
whose crystals embedded
in the granite face
captured a riot of red
before sun dropped
below the horizon
bidding farewell until morning
As noted in my opening, Mark Fleisher is about creating lasting memories. He succeeds. He does so through poetic writing skills that engage and hold readers’ attention. He succeeds because Mark himself is a Person of Interest. Inspiring people find love and grace behind each bend in the road. Fascinating people extol the good in life. Too bad there is only one Mark Fleisher.
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