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Iris Gribble-NealBook Review: A Year On The AvenueThe Athens Avenue Poetry Circle, a collection of poets, has produced a tight book of poetry with A Year On The Avenue. Each author possesses an individual voice; yet the voices blend to form a harmony of modern poetry, a song, not of summertime, but of our time. David Hunter Sutherland leads off with his particular brand of philosophy, sending the
reader back to metaphysical days, not in tone but intent. The language he employs is rich,
difficult at times, and even harsh. But the view of his place in the present is clean,
stripped of artifice, and offered to the reader in metaphor and simile. His first poem,
"Morpheme," sets the mood. "Literate your charms of singular
inflection:/drop the matter, drop the act, let go!" Good advice for the reader.
Sutherland proceeds to show life as he sees it in a manner that will resonate with many
readers. Karen Dowell infuses her poetry with the personal, with love, and with a woman's wry
humor. "Sunday Domesticity" describes a familiar scene in American households,
"Emmett limps through another play with aching ankles, as she "brush(es) plump
leaves," and in the end, "The smell of victory and fresh bread mingles in our
house." How refreshing it is: a scene of happy co- The next poet in line, Mike Timonin, rushes the reader headlong into "Band Wart," a long poem of jazz and heavy metal. For a change of pace, "Death Came to Mow My Lawn" is a irreverent look at death, 1990's style: "Death drives a Ford Mustang--...I know this, because it is parked/just outside my house." This Death doesn't stand a chance against Mike Timonin. He is willing, also, to show another, more serious side in "Fool's Mate." "You have your fool, if you want him./Or, if not, I am trapped,/forever one move from game's end. A man of few but carefully chosen words, Paul Kloppenborg proves the power of brevity. In his poem, "6 Words," he tells a story in just that - 6 words - and ends with the finality of "gone." In a beautiful piece to veterans of all wars, Kloppenborg describes the man we see selling poppies - the one we forget until he is once again on the street selling poppies. "His baggy-suited eyes bayoneted my lapel/with lessons I won't ever properly say." Tessa Gonzalez acts as bookend on the backside of this book and leaves the reader with memories of the nightmares and sleep, dreams and blindness, of "Shades." Gonzalez displays poetic power in "Vedder's Operetta Pantoum," a form poem which draws the reader in and keeps the reader wrapped tightly in form until the release,"and he can't live with her in his arms. It is so fascinating, the reader returns to 'Go' for another ride. Although this collection runs through the scale of poetic subjects, it remains true to a concise and well-crafted vision. So curl up in a favorite chair, settle back, and be prepared to enjoy many hours with the Athens Avenue Poetry Circle. |
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