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A Few Words Will Do by Lionel Kearns (Talon Books $16.95)
A Few Words Will Do by Lionel Kearns (Talon Books $16.95)
"A fresh cougar skin on the fender / of the old Plymouth, and a boy / about three years old, sitting on it..."; An old-timer reminiscing or poems from way back brought out of the photo album? Nelson in the 40s, East Hastings in the 60s, Mexico six decades back. Kearns has been there and done that and his poems stand the test of time with ease, "exploring the circled universe of memory."; The cover photograph of dead cougars draped over a forties car is one of the many memorable features of this volume of selected poems.
"And for those who store these experiences in words on paper, time becomes a line. But do not fasten onto that line. The fascination is in the living."; Kearns is compelled to wonder about time/memory/here/ now. Many of the poems are extended questions about existence that elude answers.
Poem-making itself is often the object of his inquiry including a funny piece in which the poet's product is likened to elephant turd. In "Big Poem,"; Kearns asks for "a literary liposuction or an editor / who chops text like a plastic surgeon,"; but these poems are not flabby. Concrete poems from the sixties may look at bit dated now but it's important to recall how new they were once and that they were composed on typewriters.
A Few Words is thin on the current publishing conventions for a slim volume of poems. There's no index or dedication, no chronology of the poems and no acknowledgments. The reader has no way of knowing which poems were previously published, when or where. An author bio would have been welcome. Does it matter? Talon Books is a seasoned publisher and would not have overlooked such details. The format's lack of pretentiousness may be purposeful; a seamless fit with these unpretentious poems. If some of them are new, they fit seamlessly with the old.
In a short poem about wood ducks, Kearns says, "Perfection is being totally adequate / in any given moment."; Maybe they're not exhilarating experiments with language but these accessible pieces are more than adequate, a reminder of how good poetry hangs in there. And how pleasurable!
978-0-88922-558-9
--review by Hannah Main-Van Der Kamp
[BCBW 2007] "Poetry"
"A fresh cougar skin on the fender / of the old Plymouth, and a boy / about three years old, sitting on it..."; An old-timer reminiscing or poems from way back brought out of the photo album? Nelson in the 40s, East Hastings in the 60s, Mexico six decades back. Kearns has been there and done that and his poems stand the test of time with ease, "exploring the circled universe of memory."; The cover photograph of dead cougars draped over a forties car is one of the many memorable features of this volume of selected poems.
"And for those who store these experiences in words on paper, time becomes a line. But do not fasten onto that line. The fascination is in the living."; Kearns is compelled to wonder about time/memory/here/ now. Many of the poems are extended questions about existence that elude answers.
Poem-making itself is often the object of his inquiry including a funny piece in which the poet's product is likened to elephant turd. In "Big Poem,"; Kearns asks for "a literary liposuction or an editor / who chops text like a plastic surgeon,"; but these poems are not flabby. Concrete poems from the sixties may look at bit dated now but it's important to recall how new they were once and that they were composed on typewriters.
A Few Words is thin on the current publishing conventions for a slim volume of poems. There's no index or dedication, no chronology of the poems and no acknowledgments. The reader has no way of knowing which poems were previously published, when or where. An author bio would have been welcome. Does it matter? Talon Books is a seasoned publisher and would not have overlooked such details. The format's lack of pretentiousness may be purposeful; a seamless fit with these unpretentious poems. If some of them are new, they fit seamlessly with the old.
In a short poem about wood ducks, Kearns says, "Perfection is being totally adequate / in any given moment."; Maybe they're not exhilarating experiments with language but these accessible pieces are more than adequate, a reminder of how good poetry hangs in there. And how pleasurable!
978-0-88922-558-9
--review by Hannah Main-Van Der Kamp
[BCBW 2007] "Poetry"
Submitted on November 22, 2007 in By David.
