Almost Entirely: Poems by Jennifer Wallace
This is a wonderful time of year for poetry. The frigid air outside beckoning you indoors
to snuggle up with a good work, these new poems by Jennifer Wallace entitled
Almost Entirely hit the spot for me.
Funny, amusing, deep, and yet penetrating the emotions, these poems give
you a real sense of what it means to live in this rancorous world.
I’m constantly drawn to poetry that sheds light on anger
and pet peeves. One poem, I Don’t Like People;
Animals, Too, Are an Imposition brings out the rage of certain situations.
Jennifer writes,
“My neighbor is mean as a chainsaw. Last week he routed the run-off from his yard
to mine. He doesn’t give a damn about
his dog, who craps in everyone’s garden but his own.”
Chainsaws are annoying and hearing one just makes you
downright irritated. Jennifer brings out
the sense in her words that there is a big circle around this neighbor and he
doesn’t care who is on the outside of his domain. She tries to do good to him but ends up
lighting a bag of shit on his doorstep and running, something I remember doing
as a teenage prankster.
Jennifer reckons with faith and action in many of her
poems. In one poem The Problem of Attending
she writes,
“According to Kierkegaard, Christianity is not a
consolation but a demand… And now the
problem of attending it begins.”
Even in the midst of hardship, there is a strong force
pushing us toward the demands of Christianity.
Attending to the problem is not wishing it away or walking in the
opposite direction but presently entering into the hills and valleys of
life. Jennifer gets the tension right,
it is the problem of attending to what we bump up against in life that calls us
to action.
These poems were a delight and a challenge at the same
time. I hope you enjoy them as much as I
do.
Thanks to Paraclete Press for the copy of these poems in
exchange for an honest review.
Comments
Post a Comment