SHIP OF FOOL IN PORT
Hey gang, The Bone here. Say, when I was doing my work for my MFA degree in poetry writing, I was honored and privileged to have as my mentor one William Trowbridge. He's a very accomplished poet and teacher, and will always be dear to my family's heart. About a year or so back, Bill came up to our neck of the woods to read some of his poetry. The most well-received poems he read to the youngsters at Wayne State College were those dealing with his "character" Fool, a quasi-demon angel kicked out of heaven for harboring differences of opinion with the rest of the folks up there.
Anywho, Fool has been very, very good to Bill. His poetry anyway. I remember that most all the students and faculty would come to Bill's readings at residency hoping for one more glimpse into Fool's world, and we got it every time. Kate Gale, Managing Editor of Red Hen Press, came to be guest faculty about a year ago, and long story short, she was so impressed by the reception Fool received, Fool now has his own book (if you want to stop reading and just buy the thing, go here) available from the good folks at Red Hen, and it's totally worth a read. They are very humorous (although sometimes in the "black" category) and I believe all lovers of poetry would find many poems to enjoy in the book.
There's an old adage in poetry and most art that goes something like this: "Do something unexpected." I remember an interview with that Rodriguez guy who did the film "Machete." He said you have to do three things that are totally unexpected to keep fans interested (one of his three was the scene where Machete bungee jumps using an enemy's entrails as the rope). So, for this installment, I'd like to name my top three surprises in 'Ship of Fool':
1) A list poem. Now, I haven't read all of Trowbridge's work by any means, but I did Bone up on him before I chose him as my mentor, and I have never seen what I would call a List Poem from him. But, and maybe this is an inside or not-so-inside joke, 'Ship of Fool' starts off with an amazing list poem. Kind of a gunning of the engine if you will. I think it was in LeeAnn Roripaugh's excellent "Year of the Snake" that I first fell in love with the list poem, and 'Fool's Family Album' continues the love affair. Man, I thought I knew list poems, but this one is different. The list is a whimsical one, but the ending is superb, and I'm totally going to spoil it for you. After the amazing list of photographs of our hero Fool, Trowbridge leaves us with an image that I'd like to steal, fry in bacon grease and sop up with one of my gramma's biscuits. Actually, I won't spoil it for you. I really, really, want to though, because it is the single most important image, for me, in this book. It takes Fool out of the foolish and puts him in another world--quite possibly the one Fool came from.
2)A sense of real longing. Yeah, I'm a poet, and I totally get what I just said. Longing. You know, when one is a foil for so long, beaten down, up and quite possibly other prepositions, you might think it a tad impossible for that person to rip your heart out. But, Trowbridge seems to redeem his foil, and possibly himself, in the poem 'Pity the Fool.' If you know anything about Fool, what you probably love is the humor. I have to admit that is what I love, and so I was totally unprepared for the touching images in this poem. Maybe the reader is ready for such a lovely poem by the time 'Pity' comes around. I wasn't, and the opening few lines really broke my heart.
3) Two words: "light elixir" (from 'Dancin' Fool). I have a theory about poetry, one I came up with while reading "Neon Vernacular." It goes like this: "If you can string together words that sound as if you are speaking them through a mouth full of pomegranate fruits, you are a god of poetry and a hero of mine." Here's the whole line, the first one of the poem:
"Danse Fantistique, he calls it, a light elixir"
Go ahead. Say it to yourself out loud. Do you feel it? The good fruit? The way the sounds 's,' 't' and 'k' set up the vowels in the latter half of the line, punctuated with the 'x' is fantastic. It was one of those lines where I actually had to put the book down for a bit to get my ear around it. Nice!
I'm going to share some other observations about this excellent book in the following days, but I recommend a purchase of "Ship of Fool" now. You don't need to wait for this fool to uncover the mysteries of that Fool. Just buy the book. I'd say something about a fool and his money at this point, but I can't as getting hold of these fine poems is a very wise decision.
