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Wednesday, June 24, 2009
She: Insinuations of Flesh Brooding by Spiel
( Spiel)
She: Insinuations
of Flesh Brooding
The poet Spiel
March Street Press. com
2008 ISBN 1596610891
This book presents itself as short stories in poetic form like so many of the classical poets, Virgil, or Homer, we glean understandings from others lives. The comparison is only in that it is a telling, characters who garnish our attention, with a total American slat, the words congeal, leaving scabs to pick at until the crust lay on a surface and the flesh turns red. The poet Spiel spins tales, catches lives or creates the illusion of actuality.
“…If ever I have imagined
the voice of a muse,
this is it.
I extend my hand
to shake hers,
then notice that she grasps
four bantam chicken eggs
and two juicy sprigs of fresh-picked parsley.
With no further words,
but a forward nod of her head,
she directs me to follow her…”
The poet devours his own life in images so vivid he connects us to each one, forcing the reader to follow all the threads until the end, then we realize how powerful the stories are, how they could impact our own knowing.
“…just as she told my father in years before he passed
she wished to die she tried to die she pressed knives
against her throat and practiced in a mirror practiced
out the act and showed her wish and told you doc and
told us all so many times her wish her pain-filled life
would end so why not pull the plug…”
The book is worth having and reading many times.
Irene Koronas
Poetry editor
Ibbetson Street Press
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