On
Earth As It Is
By
Michael Todd Steffen
Cervena
Barva Press
W.
Somerville, MA
ISBN:
978-1-950063-17-8
53
Pages
$16.00
Review
by Dennis Daly
Matter-of-factness
takes center stage in Michael Todd Steffen’s magnificent collection of poetry
entitled On Earth As It Is. Acceptance, albeit with enormous curiosity, seems
meted into each poem’s very marrow and, with it, the poet’s cogent
observations. No confessional spattering here. Only hard detail, telling irony,
and all-weather humor.
Steffen’s
objectivity stems from an apparent deep-seated stoicism not unsimilar to the
rather dry meditations left by Marcus Aurelius (Consider Aurelius’ belief that
externals do not enter a person’s essence. Quite the opposite.). The complexity
of this book is evident even in its title, which exhibits a connection to the
Lord’s Prayer and brings with it another meaning entirely.
In
one of the collections early poems, Climb to Climber, Steffen reveals the
durable nature that surrounds mankind. The world, embedded with ultimate
truths, governs the upward trek of life’s adventure. The Mulberry tree fostered
silkworms, which, in turn, encouraged human connection by trade route. Carpenters
used other woods to build ships and inspire the spiritual in congregation after
congregation. Yes, nature witnesses all,
sometimes beneficial, sometimes not so much. Steffen’s piece concludes with a
question mark,
…
Look up
in
an old cathedral and notice
the
upside-down hull of a ship
urgent
with angels,
the
clouds they emerge from
good
as any basis.
When you
stumble
where the sidewalk heels up
with
the wandering roots of a tree
jolting
the frame in you, is it
without
intention—nobody
there—heating
your cheek
for
the shade cast over you,
the
high leaves jeering in a breeze?
Perhaps
the oddest and funkiest rite showcased by religious zealots, who once
crisscrossed rural America, must be poisonous snake handling. Derived from
biblical verse, this lethal practice exemplifies the downside of literal
interpretations of religious texts. Steffen’s poem Snake draws down the
dangerous implications of mixing faith with tangible reality. By adding “in
heaven” to the book’s title phrase “as it is” gives one not just a different
meaning, but a contrasting and ultimately ironic meaning. The poet looks at his
subject with detail and fascination—almost snake-like. He opens his poem
coldly,
Tail,
neck. It’s a member of itself,
extension
to eyes. It’s a mouth
alive
by its severed tongue that tastes the air,
sighted
by glimpses, vanishing, of what all
lies
beyond my ordinary senses,
outside
the savoir of the myths of old
even
to Gilgamesh from whom
a
sea serpent stole the sprig of eternal life…
My
favorite poem in this collection Steffen titles The Vice of Innocence. An
arrangement of three short stanzas, the poet lets in enough ambiguity to create
a magical, almost numinous atmosphere. Steffen also makes good use of a bit of
Frost-like imagery. He presents denial as a life force, a strategy, which
allows humankind to cope. The universe disguises any ultimate deliverance in
circuitousness and seasonal change. Here, one’s innocence,
prides
itself in its certainty
of
denial
to
allow the seasons to
turn,
following
its leaf-strewn path
on
the way to its narrow salvation
deeper
in the woods.
Both
title poem and master work of this collection, Steffen’s piece Ansel Adams conjures
up an alien and wanton universe, richly detailed and ever-expanding. Steffen
accurately depicts the artistic vision of Adams and connects with it in a
charmed, uncertain landscape. He is taken by the un-colorized grandeur of what
is objectively there and the dynamism inherent in it. Consider the heart of the
poem,
So
much of what he aspired to take
and
therefore leave was land on land
on
land, an edition of views of a nearly
alien
planet, earth as other. Insleeve?
Back
cover? Where even was the photographer’s
picture?
Bowl of valley? Aerialist pines?
His
millennially worn pristine meccas
and
reclining foothills
powerfully
magnetized compositions.
His
dalliance with sagebrush blurred
in
ankle breezes.
His
patience and rigor couldn’t keep
The
clouds from being capricious—
Wisp
to flock to castle.
For
many, college graduations bring with them disillusionment and disorientation.
The world of hard knocks awaits the former student with big-picture problems
that will soon overwhelm his or her privilege and pettiness. Steffen uses a
little rural humor to effectively complete the trajectory of his poem Leaving
College. The poet proffers these telling, homespun lines,
…I
was grinning at a card
from
a rancher uncle in Western
Nebraska,
congratulating me
For
being no damn better
Than
one of them January days
That
turns your lips blue
Now
that I had one degree.
Metaphoric
and wonderful, Steffen’s ode To a Housefly in Winter steeps his readers in
scientific particulars that disguise a burgeoning, uncontainable irony, at least
until the last stanza. All the while Steffen exults in the marvelous biology of
the housefly, he laments the metaphysical unfairness, the tragedy of fate. The
two constructs, unfortunately, go together. This awareness of terrestrial dazzle
and confinement seems to liberate the poet into a concluding action,
Near
your claws there are
adhesive
pads, pulvilli,
facilitating
your walk
on
walls and ceilings
with
glorious
agility
having
its own sorrowful
demise,
betokened by one
of
your forebears,
a
partial wing left,
flat
on his back
in
the window sill.
Beyond
the thin transparency
full
of light attracting you,
you
must feel the confine
I
clothe myself
to
step out of, into
my
own wondrous machine’s
transitory
clinging.
Steffens
poetry transcends artistic perspective. Its fail-safe distance invites readers
to share his steady visions as they are on earth, in heaven, or, perhaps,
elsewhere. An impressive second book.
Absolutely wonderful review! House Fly is one of my favorites in this collection of Michael's poetry. House Fly is a brilliant empathy.
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