Fly Fishing in Times Square by William Walsh
Cervena Barva Press, 2020
Reviewer: Zachary Cook
In
Fly Fishing in Times Square William
Walsh contrasts the difference between nature and city, boyhood and manhood and
the importance of generational differences.
With a variety of skills, and an array of job experiences to draw from,
he is an author who moved into the foray of writing, and into different
disciplines which gave him insight as to what to write on and how to write
about it. In his past, he has repaired swimming pools, owned a restaurant, been
a private investigator and programmed computers. It seems his passion relies on
these former occupations and has considerably to do with his memories
concerning childhood, his early adulthood, and his ability to redeem himself by
imagining that what may have been is better than what could have been.
There
are many different structures and several themes in this collection of
narrative poetry. Some of these poems are written in couplets, others in
stanzas, and others free verse. His
characters are rife with the adolescent insecurities people of a certain age
have. The abandonment of the wayward life experienced by the city folk in favor
of the mystical beauty of nature will result in the banishment of the
importance and unimportance of the lives they have chosen and the ones that
they are destined for. One is a pinnacle of beauty, and the other is tantamount
to monotony and less than pleasurable experiences. The poem which gives its name
to the collection underscores that something is missing in Times Square: in it
you can do many things, but you cannot go fly fishing there.
All
of the poems tell a tale, whether true or imagined, the reader cannot always
know. For readers of generations which follow Mr. Walsh’s, it helps to have an
internet browser opened. And so this
reader was able to discover that, Kenny Powers, who is key to appreciating
“Baptism in the Ascension Pool,” was indeed a real person, who actually
attempted to jump the St. Lawrence River in a jet powered Lincoln! An indelible memory must have formed for the
child, William Walsh, as he and his buddy watched on the Philco television the
daring, but ill-fated stunt. A more recent memory is captured in the sensuous
“Wine Tasting at Rudy and Wilbur’s.” It is a real place whose location will be
fondly recognized by Georgians nowadays.
A very prolific author, Mr. Walsh has
written four novels, four books of poetry, three screenplays, a collection of
interviews, an anthology of contemporary American poetry and a collection of
essays. In this collection of poetry, time stretches from his youth to the
present in an America that underwent a wide variety of changes during that
period. Referring to the numerous occasions
in which poverty reigns supreme, the decades which throughout half a century
have not spun on a dime will remain in the minds of the elderly, an
unquenchable thirst whose parched throats cannot be alleviated by the passing
of time. Only in the minds of the old folk will their traditions and the minds
of their fellow man of a certain demographic be the emperor of the time that
they inhabited.
Geography
is important to these poems. Sometimes it is possible to know where these
memories and stories take place, for example: Illinois, north Georgia,
Kentucky, Montana, Texas, Tennessee, Wyoming and New York City. Other times the location may be more general.
For example Fairview, Lakewood and Villa Park could be in any number of states.
Through these poems the reader travels throughout the United States,
encountering both humans and the wild in their natural habitats.
Overcoming obstacles,
presented by both nature and man, is an important theme for Mr. Walsh. For example in the poem, “Last Days of
Friendship with Shawn M.” the nasty neighbor, Martin Turner, left for Nebraska
and so Shawn M. had no more worries. In this instance it is just luck that
Shawn prevails, even if it may only be in the author’s imagination. In other
poems, the characters survive by escaping or reshaping their difficult
situations themselves.
With
humility, Mr. Walsh approaches poetry, and his words flow smoothly and
viscously until the poems’ conclusions, and there he often ends with a swift
finish. The delicate and harsh reality of what he writes moves from journey to
adventure, and fate exacerbates the sometimes unfortunate subject of the
poem. Suffice to say, each poem has a
barbed and wiry introduction, while some end with an escape from the less than
desirable life, resulting in tearful living becoming an unstoppable
destiny.
The
deliberately beautiful and eruditely woven sentences of Fly Fishing in Times Square result in a salty and tart revelation
to the reader. Realizing the importance and distinction when juxtaposing city
life to those obsessed with the beauty and symmetry of nature, it is needless
to forsake from one’s soul the importance or insignificance of either
setting. It is apparent in Mr. Walsh’s
writings that each adversity faced by the people who are the subjects of his
poetry, has to be overcome with steadfastness and resolve, determination or
grit. A thrilling, and at the same time,
sobering read, Fly Fishing in Times
Square is a symposium of bad luck, good chance and hard work ethic.
