Thoughtful, sincere, and full of witty phrasing but sorely in need of a thorough edit.
A sprawling poetry debut that touches on everything from heartbreak to hobbits.
In his first collection of poetry, author Bedian (A Long Cold Lonely Winter, 2013, etc.) draws on his personal experiences of mental illness and spiritual seeking to examine a vast array of subjects. Bedian himself states, “[I] simply published the text of poetry I had written without editing,” and the book reflects that laissez-faire approach. Some poems are deeply personal accounts of flawed relationships, while others are pointed political criticisms on topics including the Sochi Olympics and civil rights. Still more surprising entries crop up as well, such as a whimsical series on food and even a handful of poems about the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Bedian sets almost every one of these disparate subjects into a straightforward scheme of rhyming couplets, which he often packs with clever wordplay and rhythmic phrasing. The author’s strongest lines intertwine those structural elements with keen thematic insights, as with one poem that opens: “The errant hasty cavalcade of cavalry in splendid taste, / Parading shades of chivalry, a macho parody of waste.” However, the sophistication of Bedian’s verse varies as much as its content does. For every tightly crafted poem, there’s another that seems sloppy and unoriginal in comparison; e.g.: “I hadn’t been with a woman in years, / All I had left was a lifetime of tears.” In those weaker poems, Bedian’s rigid adherence to rhyming couplets lends his work an amateurish quality, and the lack of rhythmic and structural variation grows grating as the book progresses. While the author’s commitment to leaving his work unedited results in an unusual—and, at times, exciting—degree of thematic variety, it also allows these less successful entries to distract from the stronger ones. Ultimately, the collection feels diluted and unfocused. Still, Bedian’s energy and enthusiasm remain palpable throughout, and his debut contains a number of insightful poetic gems for those readers patient enough to search them out.
Thoughtful, sincere, and full of witty phrasing but sorely in need of a thorough edit.Pub Date: April 2, 2015
ISBN: 978-1511550093
Page Count: 204
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2015
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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