MINI MUSINGS

A cornucopia of “miniature essays” on literary topics.

In the preface, Canadian poet and longtime freelance critic Garebian explains that he got the idea for this book from playwright Sarah Ruhl’s 100 Essays I Don’t Have Time To Write (2014). He doesn’t quite reach 100, but he follows her formula of writing a page or two, or even less, giving the slim book a cleaning-out-the-desk feeling. This often witty but uneven collection, a “breezy conversation with myself and interested readers,” speaks to some of Garebian’s “curiosities and obsessions” about the theater (acting, plays, playwrights) and poetry (on reading it, genres, theory, and practice). The author admires Canadian actor William Hutt, a “theatre giant of enormous skill and stature,” comparing him to Laurence Olivier—a master of “rhythm, pacing, and mood”—and Marlon Brando. An actor himself, Garebian champions the importance of community theater and recounts some of his own performances. He slyly notes that “great acting often demands great feet.” For the author, the often “misunderstood and misjudged” Edward Albee was one of America’s greatest playwrights. Garebian believes too many English teachers “would rather not teach” poetry at all. Their “lack of enthusiasm,” he writes, “filters down to their hapless students.” Unlike some overly academic, “deconstructive” critics of poetry, Garebian eschews “using a lot of learned lumber and a great deal of corny, contrived examples” to make his points. He introduces readers to unusual poetic forms such as found poems, collages, the cento, oulipo, and lipogram, as well as grim Japanese death poems. Garebian admires the “use of political consciousness as a volatile element of poetics” in Amiri Baraka and other militant poets. He also worries, “Can There Be Poetry After Donald Trump.” A lackluster piece excoriating poetry readings is just plain curmudgeonly.

A mixed bag of mostly common-sense advice on how to better appreciate the theater and poetry.