SANCTUARIES OF THE BEER YEARS

A debut collection whose evocative settings often reflect internal conflict.

Enos divides 64 poems into three sections based on location: New England, Seoul, and back to New England. Right from the outset, readers will notice arresting imagery and clever juxtapositions, as in the sharp rendering of a particular time of year in “Descent of snowlight”: “Scent of autumn’s death dances raw, / sunflower of the moon, / as thawed candles burn and mute pumpkins pray submission.” The second section, featuring glimpses of Seoul cityscapes, coffeehouse culture, and expatriate communities, opens with a melancholy poem, “For Ana (if we’re being dishonest),” which suggests a separation or long-distance relationship. The last line cuts deep: “I wouldn’t recognize your voice in the darkest room.” The collection’s title alludes to many references to alcohol consumption. In “Gypsy Bar,” Enos imagines the ideal drinking establishment that’s at once monumental and gritty, opening with the humorous and desperate line: “just give me back youth and I promise to stop writing.” This occasional use of the imperative creates a beseeching tone that effectively draws readers in. Most poems are in free verse, dense and compact. However, one highlight in the third section, “In harborside barlight,” is a prose poem. Enos also employs internal rhyme and clever inversions (“clocking tic or ticking / clock”). Consonance and assonance abound, as in this beach scene in “Remnants”: “sweeping sea at our feet, / scent of sodden dogwood washed ashore, / and transparent spiders dashing.” One of the longest and most effective poems carries the attention-grabbing title “Fuck this poem entitled, ‘After delivering your mail.’ ” Its voice belongs to a postal worker who provides wry observations of posh party guests: “Men calculate beards, go through motions. / Women occupy vacant eyes. / Fingertips hover mechanically / over one another’s shoulders.” As he creates a taxonomy of couples, he spots a single person at the party who “nods patiently in the spindrift of some lawyer’s wind.” The overall effect is reminiscent of the Joni Mitchell song “People’s Parties” and calls to mind that feeling one has standing alone in a crowded bar, surrounded and isolated.

An impressively crafted volume that evokes pathos and dark humor.