A Word For It, poems by Warren
Slesinger
Dos Madres Press. 50 pages. $16.00
Review by ED MEEK
One way to consider poetry is as an
attempt at exactness of expression. It consists of le mot juste as
the French call it when it captures a thought or feeling. “This is
the hour of lead,” says Emily naming the feeling that follows a
death or “great pain.” Dylan Thomas reminiscing about his childhood
says, “Time held me green and dying/ Though I sang in my chains
like the sea.” Warren Slesinger takes the idea of poetry as a
means of defining words and feelings and runs with it. This slim
volume has twenty-six poems arranged in alphabetical order (of
course). Each poem begins with what sounds like a dictionary
definition expressing form or function.
Glass (glass) n-es 1. A miracle that
occurs
in the mineral world when a white hot
mass
of silicates, oxides and potash fuses
to form
a bright and brittle substance that is
clarity
itself: a thin, square, rigid pane of
glass
Slesinger goes through four definitions
concluding with an example:
… 5. An object
made wholly of glass; hence, its’
contents:
Before he sipped the bubbles of
champagne,
he raised his glass: “To
Life!”
So, although the poems seem like
dictionary definitions, the lines are arranged as a poem with
attention to sound and rhythm and there’s a leap, as Robert Bly
would say, to something insightful and often surprising at the end of
the poem. You may have noticed the apostrophe after the s in the word
“its.” There are a number of those in the book along with quite a
few typos: a K missing from Knowledge, an e left off of secrete, an r
missing from sandpiper. There should either be a comma or a hyphen
between white and hot in the above poem. Proofreading is going the
way of the dodo.
Some of the poems are self-contained
and funny like this one called “Shirt.”
Shirt (sh.irt) n-s 1. An
article of clothing with
a buttoned frontal
opening, two sleeves,
a collar and a tail for
tucking into the trousers
thereby covering
the
buttocks and the
genitals.
2. One’s most
prized
possessions. Self-
composure when
exposed
to risk or injury:
keep
your shirt
on.
One’s most prized possessions indeed.
One can also find comments on language in a number of poems.
“Letter” begins with “a form of written expression, brings in a
reference to Maupassant, goes on to “love letter” and ends
with Letters … Literature in general. B. Learning
and/knowledge esp. of literature: “In truth, / I prefer a pretty
woman to all the arts/and letters.” That’s a paraphrase of a
comment by Maupassant who said: “I prefer a pretty woman to all the
arts.”
A few poems make political statements.
It appears that the United States has finally woken up (or is woke)
to the notion that poetry can be political. This poem is called
“Vapor.” It succinctly captures the awful nature of the current
state of warfare.
Vapor (vay.por) n-s 1. Something
in the air: a mixture of suspended
matter
that makes it difficult to see down
the street
in Baghdad. 2. A mist with a man in
it.
Vaporize: (vay.por.ize) v. 1. Only
to convert into a vapor with the heat
of a high explosive. 2. To detonate
a mess of manhood high-strung on hate.
Vaporous (vay.por.us) adj. 1. What
is collecting in a cloud of
Middle-Eastern
malice. 2. Rising from a blast of body
parts on the ground.
Many literary magazines today are
obsessed with experimental hybrid forms that are often just a mash up
of poetry and prose. New rule: art must evidence some skill in order
to be considered good art. Slesinger’s approach succeeds at being
experimental. Well worth a read. Just don’t pay any attention to
those typos.
