A Collaborative Poem about Truest

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Jackie Lea Sommers

I wrote this with my friend Mary, who is a genius. She is going to change the world, and I’ll just say, “I knew that all along.”

Untitled
by Mary and Jackie

Friday.
There is rain falling on Green Lake, and how can you say
the words that hang between you
like a veil you cannot tear?

The swans are quiet now, a silence that digs and destroys,
and you marvel that he can believe the sun will ever rise.

Saturday.
There is rain falling on Green Lake, a liquid pit that
takes and takes and never gives.

Sunday.
There is rain falling on Green Lake, and this time, you see it:
the stark splendor of it all, and the echo of the swan’s lamentation,
which roots you to the earth like a promise.

Poetry 2015 Review: Stupid Hope by Jason Shinder

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Jackie Lea Sommers

Though Jason Shinder is highly esteemed, this was the first of his work I’d ever read.

It was interesting. Very spare language. Very vulnerable.

There were four parts. In the first two parts, Shinder talks a lot about his mother’s illness. But in part three, readers learn that he also has an illness– and is dying from it. This is where the book took a turn for me. The first half I could do without, but the second half– when Shinder was facing his own mortality– had an urgency and honesty that made it special.

It was, in fact, so imbued with urgency, that I wondered if Shinder would die before part four. Then I realized that there wouldn’t be a part four without him.

It was tragic, and readers learn in the postscript that his dear friends put together the book after he died and at his request.

You should read this one, or at least the second half.

If you’re reading along with my Poetry 2015 Campaign, then make sure to track down a copy of Pablo Neruda’s Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair for March!

Poetry 2015 Review: Polar by Dobby Gibson

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Jackie Lea Sommers

I’m reading one book of poetry each month this year!

For January, I read Polar by Dobby Gibson. For February, I’ll be reading Stupid Hope by Jason Shinder. You should read it too. For a list of all poetry books I’m reading this year, click here.

Dobby Gibson is a local poet. I’ve seen him around Minneapolis, tweeted with him a little. He used to be my friend Alison’s boss! I’ve read two of Dobby’s other books (reviews here and here), and I loved them both.

I think Polar is his first book, and I found it less accessible than his later two. That said, I still very much enjoyed it. To me, this collection felt like a blender of Billy Collins and Annie Dillard, whose poetry is nothing like the other. Dobby was a comfortable middle ground between the deeply accessible and the brilliantly obscure.

“Two hands for undressing, / one mouth for lies, / a moment for every question / we save only for ourselves.” Love this.

Or how about this? “It’s luncheon-meat cold, and even winter rain / isn’t anything new, but it hurls itself / at us like a smashed chandelier.” Yes.

One of the biggest things that stood out to me was his vocabulary, which is clearly massive. For Gibson, it’s like an arsenal that has every weapon available, and he need only choose the best one for the situation.

He does. Over and over again.

Did you read Polar this month too? What did you think? Feel free to leave a comment. If you blogged about it, include a link!

I hope you’ll track down a copy of Stupid Hope for next month!

Poetry 2015 Campaign: Read Along with Me?

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Jackie Lea Sommers

As you may have seen, one of my goals this year is to read more poetry– in fact, to read at least one book of poetry each month. I’ve thought this through and have a solid plan in place, including a curated list of books that I believe to be widely varied.

It occurred to me that maybe some of my blog readers might also have a similar goal– or might if they only knew where to start! Just in case anyone wants to join me this year, here’s what’s on my plate each month. I would love it if you tracked down the book and read it with me so that we could discuss it on my blog at the end of each month!

It’s up to you, friends! I’m not going to do a formal link-up, though if you read the book(s) and do a review, you’re absolutely more than welcome to include a link to it in my comments.

One disclaimer: I’ve read only a few poems from Polar and Once in the West, plus all of The Singer Trilogy. Everything else? We’ll be shocked, surprised, delighted, scandalized, overwhelmed, etc. together!

Catalog

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Jackie Lea Sommers

CATALOG

I. The cornfield in early June, while we pressed seeds into earth with our heels to inspect the foundation of a home where the family was murdered. We fall silent in the fading light.

II. Under city lights, you teach me to drive a manual in the mall parking lot. We are young, best friends in love, and we can only laugh when I kill the engine again. And again.

III. On the Mississippi River bluffs, the smell of weed drifting from the giggling teens nearby to where we watch the sunset burn copper in the windows of Minneapolis. I should have said it. No, it’s best I didn’t.

IV. Outside this transatlantic village, marching in like voyagers, like mavericks, like people coming home for the very first time.

Image credit: Erica Murriel Davis