Category: Poetry

The Red Petticoat: A Collection of Poems

chidren-of-lir-ler_swans_millar-2
This illustration is from a 1905 book of Irish legends, Celtic Myth and Legend, by Charles Squire.

By Joan Slowey

People sometimes ask what the difference between prose and poetry is. Certainly the lines between these two forms have blurred in modern times, but generally a reader expects prose to have literal significance and poetry to have an emotional component. It would be good to keep this distinction in mind as you read Joan Slowey’s The Red Petticoat.

Joan Slowey’s poetry is personal and yet it has the kind of emotional resonance that echos in the ear and the heart of the reader. Ms. Slowey draws upon her experience. The tone of her work tends to be reflective as she looks back over a lifetime of joy, love, and loss. She uses language that has significance for her, that draws upon her Irish roots. Gaelic words pepper her writing, as do characters from Irish lore. At one point she writes an entire haiku in Gaelic. This is her heart and her psyche speaking, of her tradition and to her tradition. All of it works.

Ms. Slowey covers a variety of subjects. In each case there is evidence of a mature intelligence and a deep empathy. Ms. Slowey has witnessed the full cycle of life and is coming to terms with her place in that cycle. In Minus One, for example, she mourns the passing of her “own particular Adam.” Her “magic circle” has been broken and she wonders

insert-slowey

Two of my favorite poems draw upon her insight as a sentient observer.  One haiku, for example, notes the slime of a snail on her patio and ends with the line, “Well, snails must live too”.   Another, more thought-provoking piece contemplates a creature even more despised than the snail: a flasher.  In this poem, entitled, The Flasher, she lends complexity to a subject most of us dismiss out of hand.  What is the dark secret behind such a low act?  She wonders, as the poem draws to an end,

‘Did he shake with wicked glee?” or did he “Turn away to hide?”

The Red Petticoat is a slim volume. Its brevity invites a leisurely read, and perhaps a re-read.  If you indulge in this temptation you’re bound to find a gem, one poem that resonates with you as so many in this collection did with me.

I highly recommend Joan Slowey’s The Red Petticoat.

 

A. G. Moore 9/2016

 

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From A Sky’s View: Book Review

 

By. Brandon L. Jackson

In “From A Sky’s View”, Brandon L. Jackson demonstrates the skill and insight of an artist. Like every artist he is burdened with his insight, and, like a fortunate few, he has the eloquence to share his vision. I think if he did not, the weight of deep feeling might be unbearable.

Oral tradition is rich in these poems. The ear is pleased by their cadence. Rhyming is occasional but always there is music in the words. Mr. Jackson’s concerns are specific to his experience–which has been different from mine–and yet his appeal is universal. I have never heard a gun go off in the street below my apartment. I’m invisible to the police–I get a pass, because of my background and my complexion. Mr. Jackson speaks, specifically, for others

“for those
Who have felt less human
Less Angel
and even more so
Less chosen”

and yet, I hear him. That is the power of his gift. It is a rare gift, that takes me where I have not been, that helps me to understand what I have not known.

“From A Sky’s View” is a slim volume, dense with gems and wisdom. I highly recommend Mr. Jackson’s book of poems.

 

A. G. Moore

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Girl Poems: Book Review

 

nikada wilson picture 2 for review Corean_beauty
This 1904 painting from South Korea is entitled “Corean Beauty”.  The picture was provided by the Cornell University Library and is free of copyright restriction

By Nakada Wilson and Guests

Girl Poems, by Nakada Wilson and Guests, offers an intriguing collection of poetry. The book provides a platform for voices rarely heard in mass-marketed books. Ms. Wilson, and her guest writers, do not share a unified view, but they do share a perspective. That perspective reflects the experience of being female. This is startling in a literary universe where the default gender is male.

The concerns of Ms. Wilsonare are not limited to gender issues. These poems are about addiction, love and compulsion. One poem, Sullen Secrets, for example, deals with “cutting”, a compulsion to self-harm. While articles abound in medical literature about this syndrome, in Ms. Wilson’s poem, “cutting” is not a syndrome–it is a profoundly personal experience. There are no excuses or explanations for the behavior, but readers are given insight into how it feels to be caught up in the cycle of this act.

Females and males are not alike. Perhaps, in many ways, they are born the same, but this changes over time. One thing that struck me about the poems was the mention of mirrors and the focus on appearance. This is not an expression of vanity, but of burden, and it is distinct from what is traditionally found in poems authored by males. In Christa, for example, Ms. Wilson writes,

A hot 16

Body tight, morals loose

Vitamins and Four Lokos-

Breakfast.

No need for much else

There is a place for this voice in literature. Ms. Wilson is articulate and expressive (as are her guest authors). Good poetry enhances understanding viscerally. Ms. Wilson does this very well. I enthusiastically recommend her book, Girl Poems.

 

A. G. Moore

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