A tome of car racing poems, loaded with trivia but short on lyricism.
Bobi celebrates the history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in this debut collection of poetry.
Constructed in 1909, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the oldest permanent motor racing track in the world, and its marquee race, the Indianapolis 500, is hailed by some as “the Greatest Race on Earth.” Bobi gives the race and racetrack the Homeric treatment with this volume of verse that chronicles the lore, personalities, records, and automobiles of the storied institution. After a prose-heavy introductory section that explains the author’s fascination with auto racing and gives some background on the Speedway, Bobi offers themed poetry sections on such topics as the psychology of a race car driver, the relationship between man and automobile, the experience of being at the Speedway during the race-heavy month of May, and the women of the auto racing world. The vast majority of the book, however, is taken up by a section titled “Start Your Engines,” which features poems about every Indy 500 race (and many others as well), held at the racetrack from 1909 to ’95. The final section offers some miscellaneous poems, notes on other “poets of auto racing,” and reference citations. Most of Bobi’s poems are written in rhyming couplets, including “Father and Son,” which describes one of racing’s most famous families: “Two Andrettis talking away, / It was father and son on this Fifth day of May; / A gesture from Jeff, Mario gave a nod, / Would their chat get the problem resolved?” Throughout, the author provides some engaging uses of slant rhyme. However, the poems show no sense of meter, which lends a clunky, unfinished quality to the work. Much of it is narrative, but even so, there’s a lack of emotional depth to the verses that may leave the reader feeling more bored than invigorated. The prospect of reading 500 pages of poems about car race after car race may sound monotonous, and it is. And although the book is remarkable as a peculiar, exhaustive love letter to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it’s difficult to imagine even die-hard racing fans reading the entire book.
A tome of car racing poems, loaded with trivia but short on lyricism.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5462-1260-7
Page Count: 562
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.
Keridan’s poetry testifies to the pain of love and loss—and to the possibility of healing in the aftermath.
The literary critic Geoffrey Hartman once wrote that literature—and poetry, in particular—can help us “read the wound” of trauma. That is, it can allow one to express and explain one’s deepest hurts when everyday language fails. Keridan appears to have a similar understanding of poetry. She writes in “Foreword,” the opening work of her debut collection, that “pain frequently uses words as an escape route / (oh, how I know).” Many words—and a great deal of pain—escape in this volume, but the result is healing: “the ending is happy / the beginning was horrific / so let’s start there.” The book, then, tracks the process of recovery in the wake of suffering, and often, this suffering is brought on by romantic relationships gone wrong. An early untitled poem opens, “I die a little / taking pieces of me to feed the fire / that keeps him warm / you don’t notice that it’s a slow death / when you’re disappearing little by little.” The author’s imagery here—of the self fueling the dying fire of love—is simultaneously subtle and wrenching. But the poem’s message, amplified elsewhere in the book, is clear: We go wrong if we destructively give ourselves over to others, and healing comes only when we turn our energies back to our own good. Later poems, therefore, reveal that self-definition often equals strength. The process is painful but salutary; when “you’re left unprotected / surrounded by chaos with nothing you / can depend on / except yourself / and that’s when you gather the pieces / of the life you lost / and use them to build the life you want.” The “life you want” is an elusive goal, and the author knows that the path to self-definition is fraught with peril—but her collection may give strength to those who walk it.
Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-72770-538-6
Page Count: 196
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Downbeat but often engaging poems and stories.
A slim volume of largely gay-themed writings with pessimistic overtones.
Poe (Simple Simon, 2013, etc.) divides this collection of six short stories and 34 poems into five sections: “Art,” “Death,” “Relationship,” “Being,” and “Reflection.” Significantly, a figurative death at the age of 7 appears in two different poems, in which the author uses the phrase “a pretended life” to refer to the idea of hiding one’s true nature and performing socially enforced gender roles. This is a well-worn trope, but it will be powerful and resonant for many who have struggled with a stigmatized identity. In a similar vein, “Imaginary Tom” presents the remnants of a faded relationship: “Now we are imaginary friends, different in each other’s thoughts, / I the burden you seek to discard, / you the lover I created from the mist of longing.” Once in a while, short story passages practically leap off of the page, such as this evocative description of a seedy establishment in Lincoln, Nebraska: “It was a dimly lit bar that smelled of rodent piss, with barstools that danced on uneven legs and made the patrons wonder if they were drunker than they thought.” In “Valéry’s Ride,” Poe examines the familial duties that often fall to unmarried and childless people, keeping them from forming meaningful bonds with others. In this story, after the double whammy of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hits Louisiana, Valéry’s extended family needs him more than ever; readers will likely root for the gay protagonist as he makes the difficult decision to strike out on his own. Not all of Poe’s main characters are gay; the heterosexual title character in “Mrs. Calumet’s Workspace,” for instance, pursues employment in order to escape the confines of her home and a passionless marriage. Working as a bookkeeper, she attempts to carve out a space for herself, symbolized by changes in her work area. Still, this story echoes the recurring theme of lives unlived due to forces often beyond one’s control.
Downbeat but often engaging poems and stories.Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5168-3693-2
Page Count: 120
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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