An unusual compilation with an unconventional structure hampered by an immature tone.
Smith (From the Raft, 2012, etc.) offers a collection of poems inspired by tabloid headlines.
The author provides poetry on topics pulled from such publications as the National Enquirer, Sun, and Weekly World News and crafts narrative too weird to be true. Readers will encounter poems about a flying nun, a dwarf stuck in an airplane toilet, and flatulent sheep. This is a literary landscape in which aliens descend on the White House, a night watchman at the National Academy of Archaeology in Cairo attempts to impregnate mummies, and a woman finds a dead leprechaun in a jar. Smith treats readers to cameos by famous historical figures, including Amelia Earhart and Jimmy Hoffa, and pop-culture icons, such as Michael Jackson. Not all of Smith’s poems are humorous, however; some are downright tragic, such as “Boy Who Escaped Mass Grave Tells His Story,” in which the narrator proclaims “no one returns from his grave.” In “Back By Popular Demand / World’s Greatest Disasters,” Smith recalls the 1978 Jonestown massacre and the 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal, India. Smith has occasional flashes of descriptive brilliance, as in a poem about Liberace: “his flesh / like gold leaf, his smile / like a grand piano keyboard.” However, the collection’s excessive use of expletives and gratuitous violence are off-putting. In “Schoolkids Scoffed at Nerdy Steven,” for instance, the titular young man is on the receiving end of a string of offensive slurs: “Kike, nigger, spick, mick, polack, kraut, wop, frog, / wasp, cocksucker, sissy, brain, creep, nerd.” Overall, the author’s subjects are colorful, but the poetry’s raison d’être seems to be pure shock and awe, not artistry or emotional depth. Then again, the author does warn readers early on that he’s “ready to chew that pulp and poop / poems that tread the water like a rush of fools.”
An unusual compilation with an unconventional structure hampered by an immature tone.Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-948864-68-8
Page Count: 82
Publisher: ReadersMagnet LLC
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Listen to the lioness roar.
The moving self-portrait of a young artist coming into her own, both spiritually and poetically.
Irish was born in the British West Indies but came of age in London. Like the many strangers in strange lands before her, Irish often found the immigrant’s experience challenging. English schooling felt foreign, and maturity didn’t necessarily bring with it certainty as to what her future would hold. But all that changed in her 20s, when two new influences began to give shape to her life: First, the religion of Rastafarianism—taught to her by two new friends—offered a spiritual foundation, and then poetry gave her a voice. The present volume features many poems written during this period; thus, it is a record of Irish’s development that demonstrates the poet’s growth both as an author and as a young woman. As Irish admits, Rastafari informs much of her verse, and the faith provides a key to understanding some of her project. Though Rastafarians don’t have a single creed, many believe that much of the world is like Egypt before the Exodus or Babylon during the chosen people’s exile; Rastas often see evil and feel compelled to condemn it. Irish, too, voices her frustration at the ills that wrack society. In “Brain Deficiency 11,” she excoriates rappers for their “derogative” lyrics, fast-food restaurants for their worthless food, technology for drawing children away from the wonders of the real world: “We have got serious issues in this our community,” she concludes. But as many other Rastas do, she takes solace from the belief that God dwells inside her. In “Falsehood,” she writes, “You cannot stop the God in me.” Even Irish’s pseudonym, the Lion Queen, comes from her faith; the lion is a key symbol in Rastafari. Yet if much of the content of Irish’s verse derives from the religion she loves, her style is truly her own. She stacks short lines one on top of the next, building sturdy poetry that may well stand the test of time. Her diction is unpretentious but never simplistic, and her voice is a clarion call.
Listen to the lioness roar.Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2011
ISBN: 978-1456787219
Page Count: 120
Publisher: AuthorHouseUK
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Sharp as a razor but solid as stone, Mandolini-Pesaresi’s (Grecian Vistas, 2012, etc.) poetry offers subtle charms for refined tastes.
The title of this potent collection of verse offers a tension: the immovable hardness of marble and the fluid action of a wave. A similar tension drives the poetry inside, which is often beset by productive contradictions. Foremost among them is the poet’s balance between his language’s narrow precision and the remarkable breadth of his frame of reference. There is some of Emily Dickinson in his style, and like the belle of Amherst, he writes brief poems; few stretch past 60 or 70 words, and most fit into a handful of concise stanzas, but they pack a punch. The entirety of one untitled piece reads, “When only a tree be left and grief / Has shaved the head and eyes of man / In the godly twilight / A silent cloud will trap moonlight / Until on eyes of stone / From cracked skies / dawn breaks.” There’s much to admire in such economical diction, from the grief that uncannily shears not only a head, but also “eyes,” to the enticing mystery of “godly twilight.” Mandolini-Pesaresi has a Ph.D. in Italian literature, and his broad knowledge base lends his writing a rich, allusive texture. In “Safinah,” for example, he quotes the dying words of the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, who requests passage on the ship Aphinar: “`Aphinar, ‘Aphinar … / Lonely name in the dreamer’s eyes / Vague as a half-forgiven memory.” Elsewhere, in “The Cup-bearer Girl,” he closes with a mention of Shams-e Tabrîzî, the lover and mentor of the Sufi poet Rumi: “Nowhere to hide the breeze / Effendi of hoisted hopes, / Hailéd at last, Shams-e Tabrîzî.” Such a broad purview gives the author many fallow fields from which to draw material; he digs deep, unearthing satisfyingly weighty poetry.
Fine literature from a literary critic.
Pub Date: March 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-1480265523
Page Count: 76
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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