Form comes first in this effective volume of sonnets.
A writer begins building his poetic oeuvre 14 lines at a time.
To his own surprise, debut author Rodriguez fell in love with sonnets in an acting class. The course was designed to help thespians make the most of the poetic form, but he just couldn’t get enough of the verse, so he had to start writing some of his own. Sonnets are those 14-line rhyming blocks that test even the most seasoned verse-maker’s mettle. Making a book of them is a daunting task, but the author’s devotion to the form is admirable. Shakespeare, whom many still consider the master of the sonnet, wrote 154 of them; Rodriguez gives readers 121. The author’s debt to the Bard of Avon is apparent throughout. In “Of Fate,” Rodriguez channels both Shakespeare and Poe in a thoughtful meditation on destiny and the perils of choice: “Such indecision harshly plagues the mind. / Which path to take, for both do seem quite sound. / Came Shakespeare, Poe, and others of like kind. / Perplexing souls for answers, but none found.” Here and elsewhere, readers will see Rodriguez settling comfortably into his scheme; when he’s at his best, his rhythms feel effortless and his rhymes natural. The finest sonneteers can make audiences forget they’re reading verse that’s so rigorous, and the poet pulls off that trick repeatedly. Elsewhere, the going is not so easy, and some of the pieces are less smooth. Take, for instance, the opening lines of “Allegory of the Cave”: “So many times I rue the horrid day / When born was I, this world to occupy. / Into such realm, my birth had I, no say. / So oft, ‘Why me?’ is my remiss reply.” Here, Rodriguez’s syntax is overcomplicated; his diction is archaic; and his content repetitive. Or in simpler terms, he fights the sonnet, and the sonnet wins. But such misfires are few and far between, and the poet delivers many potent, deeply moving works.
Form comes first in this effective volume of sonnets.Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-79343-112-7
Page Count: 174
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
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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