SECTION TWELVE
POETRY REVIEWS
sm
COLUMN
SIXTY-EIGHT, FEBRUARY 1, 2002
(Copyright © 2002 Al Aronowitz)
[At this writing, LUCID MOON editor Ralph Haselmann Jr. is still recuperating in Morristown Memorial Hospital, Morristown, N.J., from injuries suffered in a freak auto accident near his home. An infected wound in his back refuses to heal and he can't speak to visitors because of a tracheotomy tube in his throat, according to his mother, Kathy Haselmann. She is trying to arrange his transfer to the Kessler Rehabilitation Institute in West Orange once he is discharged from the hospital.]
Amerika by
dot-to-dot, poetry chapbook by Paul
Weinman. 1998, 28 pages, $2 cash or check made out to Cari Taplin,
editor, Kitty Litter Press, PO Box 3189, Nederland, CO 80466-3189. Paul
Weinman is a poet who is committed to his work. He squeezes out all the
intellectual doodoo and reshapes it into hot air balloons from where he catches
glimpses of America by dot-to-dot. He starts off each poem with a town, state
and population figure and then takes a poetic snapshot of that town in paragraph
form with hilarious details. It's all like some comical almanac entry. Often, he
lets his hot air balloon soar to heights of silliness. Old Coast, SC. Popl.
7,884 '88 reads: "Gonads had been listed for the Deli Dept. Aged tractors
as floor supervisors. "Damn!" said the grandmother of 21. "Hot
damn and donuts for quack doctors and for all potholes that fester with
crickets!" My mother had warned me of these thickening days. She'd sit me
down and tap my head wack, wack it with her wooden spoon. Her chant was steady,
her clothes…ragged And, I'll admit, even my midlife erections would
respond to the sigh of old shoes. Kind of a delayed reaction." I can't take
this stuff seriously as poetry, but it sure is amusing and Weinman has found a
new form to work within. He's certainly an original!
Balloons and
Twisted Pins, poetry
chapbook by Steve Conway and Cari Taplin. 1997, 16 pages, $2 cash
or check made out to Cari Taplin, editor, Kitty Litter Press, PO
Box 3189, Nederland, CO 80466-3189. A fine collaboration of somewhat prickly
poetry, hence the title Balloons and Twisted Pins. The Wind Whispers by Steve
Conway reads: "The wind whispers through the trees while waves wash
onto the shore where weather worn rocks are kissed by the warmth of wispy rays
of sun when it rises from the watery sea wagon wheels widen the ruts of time
washed on its westward journey wafting overhead waking the world eventually
waning wearily from whence it came & a waterfall of stars weepingly works
across the wideness of sky." Wideness Of Sky by Cari Taplin reads:
"never been so vulnerable and free as when I was under the huge and
infinite sky of Wyoming or Montana or South Dakota or new Mexico or Kansas or
any number of places where trees and city structures don't block the view close
you in. where the truth of Mother Nature takes your breath." These two
poets go well together.
Black Spring
Press mezzotint series. Free with sase
to Black Spring Press, 61-36 160th Street, Flushing, NY 11365. A
mezzotint is a colored cardboard broadside equaling 4 pages of poetry. This is a
fine looking series with some surprising and engaging poetry. #4, Teachers
Thinking I Was Unprepared by Miriam A. Cohen had some terse imagery
and fine details. Cancer reads: "Wooden Dove on my mantle sedates
the room today I am fully devoted to "Marilyn" who shared affection
like a big dog; small cat with little life left." Miriam's poetry is
nostalgic for a better time. #5, Notes From The Underground by Albert
Huffstickler repeats certain phrases in each poem to good effect. That
Certain Something reads: "I like the way she sits, I relish the
affinity of ass and chair, the arch of her back, the prim poise of her
seatedness deluges me in fantasies, I like the way she sits." #6, The
Horseman Knew Her, by Raymond Mason, is funny in a stand-up comedy sort of
way. Times and Times reads: Some politician has written a pamphlet
stating that if your children start getting humanistic ideas they are most
certainly on drugs! No doubt about it. In my young days they thought you were a
communist."
+a-dump-ba! #7, Blues Lecture #1 by
Gordon T. Osing is divided into 13 parts, each part a saying of wisdom about the
blues. #2 Reads: "Image devours image in the forest, shadow light, ad
infinitum; in the random, decomposing leaf capillaries resides an old map of
Paris." Some insightful heavy logic going on there, very refreshing. #8, Beyond
A Man Thing by John Grey has some rough violent imagery, if you like
your poetry dark. The Cut In Your Arm reads: "you're looking at your
blood like it's a mirror your face is forming in each droplet your cheeks like
flaming roses your eyes red as sunsets you figure it's a prison breakout you're
escaping from yourself down your trembling arm over your white knuckles along
the ridges of your palm that's you dripping like a melting rooftop making puddle
after puddle on the floor it's a kind of thaw you tell the stabbing pain you'll
take it." #9, The Aesthetics of a Yo-Yo by Nathan Graziano is
a good overview of his style, which is rich in detail and has good use of
metaphors but is slightly ho-hum. Style reads: "Everyone has a
tattoo these days. Then there's you. Blue jeans and a t-shirt, hair pulled back
in a dull ponytail. Pierced plainly in the ears only. But I see your style so
clear when you light a cigarette or reach across my chest to turn off the
bedroom light." I'd like to see more tension and drama in Nate's poetry. He
does have talent, it just need s a jumpstart. All in all a good series, for the
price of a sase, which can't be beat.
Caught In A
Crystal Bowl, poetry chapbook by Wolfgang
Somary. 2000, 32 pages, $6 check made out to Manifold, 99 Vera Ave.,
London N21 1RP. This is a well-written collection of verse that touches on
cosmology, ancient myths, nature and the beauty of life. The opening poem is
ripe with amazing imagery: A Singer's Prayers: " Tinder of life in
the fire I glow, wind of the free in the breath that I blow, ploughman on
horseback on earth that I fill, sail of my hope on the ocean I spill, sum of all
sounds, you beyond names, tongue of my silence and cadence of flames: sing
through my throat, oh make me your flute -- my pulse be your cymbals, my
heartstrings your lute. Lend me the hum of an eagle in flight, a comet in
snowdrift to brighten your night, the crown of an elm to shelter your birds,
tune me to sing you a song without words…" Beautiful sing-song
imagery and a sense of history make this collection a treat to read.
The Cardinal
Points, poetry chapbook by Carlos
Sherman. 2000, 96 pages, $10 check made out to Manifold, 99 Vera
Ave., London N21 1RP. Beautiful Native American Indian poetry steeped in nature,
tribal lore and mysticism. Sherman writes with dignity and poise of the
afterlife in many of the poems here, including Milky Way: "River Of
heaven of Indian history the home of gods, animals and deeds, cradle of
myth-science or science-myth Andes Bible who art in heaven, confirm, I pray, the
holiness of the past. That wise law of the Indian who has studied your stars
that he might understand His own life Milky Way, witness eternal to life and
death, image of the Andes from sun to sun, and from moon to moon, cradle of
myth-science or science-myth, Andes Bible who art in heaven, recall, I pray, the
genocide of yesterday, today and tomorrow, for ever and ever, Hau." These
are the best, most heartfelt poems I read this week, and the book is in four
languages, including Spanish, English, and Russian.
Eternal Hum, poetry chapbook By Dave
Church. 2000, 20 pages, $2 cash or check made out to Cari Taplin,
editor, Kitty Litter Press, PO Box 3189, Nederland, CO 80466. Another
fine Kitty Litter chapbook, this one by Dave Church is full of short and
sweet poems, plain and simple observations. The Falling Of The First Snow
reads: "The falling of the first snow arrived today just as moon drifted
off to sleep. Landscape blizzard white by sunburst at high noon -- leaving me
dreaming young again -- when fun was ordinary -- and time present tense only.
Before night blackened sky, I sat back near my window -- my ears to children
below -- moving me to smile -- not enough though to join in -- the years having
drained that part of me." Church has a keen eye for detail and a good way
of commenting on life that comes off as hard-won wisdom. A fine effort. I would
like to see a full length book by Dave Church some day, he has a lot to say and
he says it well.
First Flush, poetry chapbook by Bob
Newman. 1999, 40 pages, $6 check made out to Manifold, 99 Vera Ave.,
London N21 1RP. Newman writes about such subjects as love and science with a
playfulness and an air of knowledge about him. Eclipse reads: "This
is the day when we shall see the moon dispute the morning sky; usurp the sun;
beshroud the world in unaccustomed dark. We know this -- and we know it won't
last long. This is the day; the wait will not be long until we're on the dark
side of the moon. Unseen by us, our life-giver, the sun, will impotently rage
against the dark. The birds, lulled into silence by the dark, will tuck heads
under wings " but not for long. Two minutes only, this night of the moon,
before the sky is reclaimed by the sun. Though there is nothing new under the
sun, all seems new at the dying of the dark. A second full dawn chorus, loud and
long will celebrate the passing of the moon. Don't worry when the moon obscures
the sun, although the day be dark, it won't be long." The poems are
informative, funny, and unapolagetically British in a formal way. A good
collection.
Love-Hate
Continuum, poetry chapbook by Mark
Terrill, with cover art by Terrill. 2001, 36 pages, $5 cash or check
made out to Green Bean Press, PO Box 237, NYC 10013. Mark Terrill has a
fine sense of humour and displays it well in this chapbook. Ultimatum
reads: " I remember picking you up on the way to work you sitting on the
steps of your Palo Alto house reading your bible me, hungover, tired, in my
junkyard Rambler station wagon knowing the whole thing was doomed already you
having told me it was me or him and me being a non-believer I knew I didn't
stand a chance against the allure of that goofy carpenter's son from Bethlehem
and when it was finally over I wasn't so pissed that you'd been born again I was
just pissed that you'd been born at all." Just the right amount of sarcasm
to balance the humour in these poems. Terrill writes with a wizened air, been
there done that. I enjoyed this collection.
The Lummox
Book Of Days, 2001
Calander with maxims by B.Z. Niditch. 2001, 64 pages, $6 ppd cash or
check made out to The Lummox Press, POB 5301, San Pedro, CA 90733. This
is a handy little calendar, another in the charming Little Red Book series, with
150 maxims by B.Z. Niditch, such as "To be alone and isolated is to be a
writer" and "every poet is born with a death sentence: the death of
his language." A little stern, but these maxims make you think and are fun
to read.
The San Pedro
Poems, poetry chapbook by Raindog
(R.D. Armstrong). 2001, 48 pages, $6 ppd to The Lummox Press, POB
5301, San Pedro, CA 90733. Here Raindog writes of a time and a place, San Pedro,
California, final home of poet Charles Bukowski. The poems are wistful
and sad and funny all at the same time. San Pedro reads: "Yes, it's
true, I left San Pedro though in truth it must also be said that you can never
leave this town entirely. It will follow you like a bad rumour like a stray dog
like a dream never realized never captured. Even though I only lived here for 6
years it felt like home to me. But "home" is an uneasy concept
something always sought after rarely achieved "A place in the world" a
distant vision a life glimpsed in passing something that I've seen or thought
I've seen but never been able to find when I retraced my steps…There
will always be a piece of San Pedro buried deep in my heart. A burning ember
that cannot be ignored." A fine collection, Raindog writes well.
Seasons From
The Second Floor, poetry
chapbook by Nathan Graziano. 2001, 52 pages, $5 cash or check made out to
Green Bean Press, PO Box 237, NYC 10013. Nate Graziano is a meat and
potatoes poet. Which is ok, I like my steak with ketchup and onions and my
potato with globs of butter and sour cream and salt and pepper. Hence the
problem -- Nate doesn't write with ketchup and onions and globs of butter and
sour cream and salt and pepper, he just sticks to meat and potatoes, which is
bland and boring. One Romantic reads: "She's sitting on the couch.
The phone bill in her lap. A calculator in one hand and a strand of brown hair
wrapped around her index finger. She's dividing a large number by two. I'm
sitting cross-legged on the rug. Picking at the blue carpet and staring out the
window at a telephone wire cutting across a tree. I'm thinking about Kansas and
how crisp the air tastes in the middle of nowhere." Kinda wistful, kinda
funny, kinda dull too. I dunno, Nathan has talent, but I've read better by
Nathan.
The Spirit
Collection, poetry chapbook by Elizabeth
Kay. 2000, 42 pages, $7 check made out to MANIFOLD, 99 Vera Ave.,
London N21 1RP… Elizabeth Kay writes tightly constructed verse that
mostly rhymes. Her poems are rich in description and are often humorous. She
uses razor-sharp metaphors that suggest a fine wit and vocabulary. Metrophobia
reads: "a fear of poetry runs deep within the class. The students blanch at
words like ode; trip over feet, feel sure they'll never win; whatever is a
bloody antipode? Zit's like an exercise in writing code. Sestinas come and go,
the weeks progress; the metre's inching forward, stress is less pronounced. Some
hone and polish, some refrain; some learn the rules, apply them -- others guess,
go blank,
Uncertain Age, poetry chapbook by Hilary
Sheers. 2000, 54 pages, $8 check made out to Manifold, 99 Vera Ave.,
London N21 1RP. Beautifully wrought turn of phrases and pungent imagery make
this poetry collection sing. Old Haunts reads: "For old times' sake
I found the pub again hard by the long abandoned slipway and the dead docks now
bedecked with flower baskets its sign repainted gilt with curlicues inside, the
frosted glass replaced with reproduction pine and fruit machines even the bar
billiards table glowed green as a fresh mown lawn stroked by new cues. I left
friends seated round a table twenty years ago basking in the pallid sun of May
their sooty salty wit glistening on the dust black smoky garden. I had expected
them to sail as I was doing out on the tide to more vigorous places done with
this dancing ring the neverending swapping of emotional washing. I took my drink
to the faded lawn beside these watery streets where sat the group, slumped
deeper in their seats hands stiffening round glasses skin, cheeks, bellies,
breasts sagging the walk up to the bar an effort. Dawdling years shrunk flat as
their slothful talk batted sluggish from lip to ear and back unnoticed like the
passing ships. I was the wonder of the year wit barbed sharp as tennis balls
lobbed in a slow descriptive arc till lethargy stole back. Over the drawling
sentences I caught a quick riposte a cuffing shot, a verbal volley. I looked to
see the source. Slow eyes followed mine reflecting in their desultory gaze a
group of twenty-somethings whose talk waltzed bright as skin, taut as muscles,
fresh as bitter tossing the future in the air." Sheers tackles such wistful
subjects as getting older, memories, old haunts. A fine collection.
What's This About, Then?, poetry chapbook by Kevin L. Donihe, with cover art by Matt B. Seats 2000, 24 pages, $2 cash or check made out to Cari Taplin, editor, Kitty Litter Press, PO Box 3189, Nederland, CO 80466. This is poetry that Edgar Allen Poe might write today, if he were alive and fey! The poems are heartfelt, tender, and a little dark. In The Garden Of Kali reads: "In the Garden of Kali wafts the odor of honeysuckle of rosewood (step cautiously -- the roots here drink from the memories of divorced flesh/denuded bone and at the core of each flower lies a calcium smile) a true gardener knows that for every death there is a convulsive yet equally beautiful birth and in the Garden of Kali every grave opens into a womb." Kevin writes really well; this is some of the best poetry I reviewed this week.
Please send poetry books, chapbooks, cds, broadsides or whatever for review to Ralph Haselmann Jr. at 67 Norma Road, Hampton, New Jersey 08827. Include price plus postage, who to make check out to, and address to order from. I will review them within 2 weeks and send you a copy of the review. Publishers have my permission in advance to reprint any part of my reviews as long as they send me a copy of what it appears in. The reviews go out to several small press discussion lists, including David McNamara's poetry )ism( list, Doug Holder's list, Kelly DeSaint's list, and J.J. Campbell's list, after which they will be archived on my Lucid Moon Poetry Website. My reviews are also picked up by 6 websites, including Al Aronowitz' The Blacklisted Journalist website ( http://www.bigmagic.com/pages/blackj ), Joe Grant's BookZen website (http://www.bookzen.com/ ), Andre Cordrescue's Exquisite Corpse, (http://www.exquisitecorpse.org), Carlye Archibeque's The Independent Review Site (http://www.irs.theroadlesstraveled.org), Brian Morrisey's Poesy magazine and website (http://www.geocities.com/bmorrise2/) Don Hoyt's Web Writer's Workshop http://www.webwritersworkshop.com). My telephone number is (908) 735-4447, e-mail ralphy@lucidmoonpoetry.com and my Lucid Moon Poetry Website is http://www.lucidmoonpoetry.com. Please visit my website often and sign my guestbook!
Ralph Haselmann Jr. ##
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