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Between Frames
Minimal shelfwear. No markings. Pages are clean and bright. Binding is tight.
- GenresPoetry
40 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 22, 2013
In Between Frames, Wendy Barker has meticulously woven a moving narrative—one of tragic loss, restless discontent, and eventual reincarnation of spirit. The chapbook operates as a series of glimpses into the life of a speaker who has recently divorced her husband. This review will consider the work’s structural devices, formal features, rhetorical tactics, organizing principles, and narrative arc to better understand the essence of Between Frames and what makes it successful.
A notable element of Between Frames which contributes to thematic unification is the incorporation of three poems which partially or entirely take place in movie theatres. These three poems are spaced fairly evenly throughout the chapbook at points of transition. In the first, “Morning Screening with the Film Critics”, the opening poem of the chapbook, we do not see any film. Instead, the speaker leaves before the film begins, going for a walk “through the entire multiplex, in, around, and / out of every one of the empty theaters, the screens all / blank” (9). This suggestion of aimless walking, where empty canvases deprive the world of signification, seems to be a fitting starting point, as the speaker does very much seem to be walking aimlessly in the coming pages (“How far will we travel / to arrive at a moment / we call home?” (15)), in a world where leaves “remind [her] of nothing” (19), indicating a lack of meaning.
“Banned” is the next of the three movie theatre poems and details the story of the speaker and a man (presumably her husband) who go see a movie about a lonely Chinese girl who eventually winds up as a prostitute. In the last stanza of the poem, Barker writes, “When you’re / that lonely, I say, you do anything. For a while. Until / you give up.” (18). This expression of the hopelessness and desperation that can be engendered by loneliness becomes a fitting segue into the next section of poems, which deal much more directly with the speaker’s personal and trying emotional experience, whereas the poems prior to “Banned” seem more detached and deal with what is external to the speaker.
“Untitled, At The Movies” is the final of the three movie theatre poems of the chapbook. In this poem, the speaker is at a movie in which a woman “with eyes like [hers] / and hair” (25) is rejected and ultimately ends up alone. The speaker seems to have a bit of an epiphany when she declares, “The story is not my life.” (25). She proceeds to exit the theatre with her “car key ready” (25). This poem seems symbolic of the speaker confronting the awful notion of future loneliness and choosing to reject it. This is fitting, as the poems following “Untitled, At The Movies” chart a decidedly positive arc from a reflective state to a pleasant one of new beginnings with a new husband.
Barker’s use of the movie-theatre-themed poems also relates to the title of the chapbook. The “frames” that something is ostensibly “between” can be likened to the frames of a film production. It seems that on one hand, Barker wants to show us the moments that occur between the frames of life that are worthy of the movies—the ones that don’t make the final cut. On the other hand, it seems that the entire chapbook is a collection of frames, with the reader expected to fill in the blanks, or the space in between. This double meaning that can be ascertained from the title enhances the depth and unity of the chapbook.
Formally, the chapbook contains both prose and verse poetry, with a good number of both. It isn’t clear that there is a reason why certain poems are prose poems and others are verse, other than that they became that way in the poet’s mind or that certain content lent itself better to one type as opposed to the other. However, the variety does keep the reader guessing and provides a certain freshness as one pages through the work.
Immediately following “Untitled, At the Movies” is the poem “Reflection”, which seems to, of all the poems in the collection, provide the reader with a sense of the theme. The final three stanzas of the poem discuss a female cardinal who would always attack the bedroom window. The final stanza of the poem reads, “I’ve heard they die / that way, not knowing it’s only / a mirror, a reflection of themselves.” (26). Here, the window seems to be a metaphor for life itself. Barker may be implying that any human subject’s perception of the external world is a reflection of their internal state. One can attack the world outside of oneself all one’s life, and one will ultimately die having felt that the world was a cruel and depressing place. Or, one can realize that the world reflects one’s mental state and do what one can to reach a more peaceful and accepting state, which will in turn leading to one finding a more peaceful and acceptable world. The chapbook seems to be a story of a journey from a state of discontent to a state of peace.
All told, Between Frames is an intimate and gripping documentation of the poet's personal struggle overcoming a divorce. It's candid and concise style creates a delightful read for any poetry devotee.
A notable element of Between Frames which contributes to thematic unification is the incorporation of three poems which partially or entirely take place in movie theatres. These three poems are spaced fairly evenly throughout the chapbook at points of transition. In the first, “Morning Screening with the Film Critics”, the opening poem of the chapbook, we do not see any film. Instead, the speaker leaves before the film begins, going for a walk “through the entire multiplex, in, around, and / out of every one of the empty theaters, the screens all / blank” (9). This suggestion of aimless walking, where empty canvases deprive the world of signification, seems to be a fitting starting point, as the speaker does very much seem to be walking aimlessly in the coming pages (“How far will we travel / to arrive at a moment / we call home?” (15)), in a world where leaves “remind [her] of nothing” (19), indicating a lack of meaning.
“Banned” is the next of the three movie theatre poems and details the story of the speaker and a man (presumably her husband) who go see a movie about a lonely Chinese girl who eventually winds up as a prostitute. In the last stanza of the poem, Barker writes, “When you’re / that lonely, I say, you do anything. For a while. Until / you give up.” (18). This expression of the hopelessness and desperation that can be engendered by loneliness becomes a fitting segue into the next section of poems, which deal much more directly with the speaker’s personal and trying emotional experience, whereas the poems prior to “Banned” seem more detached and deal with what is external to the speaker.
“Untitled, At The Movies” is the final of the three movie theatre poems of the chapbook. In this poem, the speaker is at a movie in which a woman “with eyes like [hers] / and hair” (25) is rejected and ultimately ends up alone. The speaker seems to have a bit of an epiphany when she declares, “The story is not my life.” (25). She proceeds to exit the theatre with her “car key ready” (25). This poem seems symbolic of the speaker confronting the awful notion of future loneliness and choosing to reject it. This is fitting, as the poems following “Untitled, At The Movies” chart a decidedly positive arc from a reflective state to a pleasant one of new beginnings with a new husband.
Barker’s use of the movie-theatre-themed poems also relates to the title of the chapbook. The “frames” that something is ostensibly “between” can be likened to the frames of a film production. It seems that on one hand, Barker wants to show us the moments that occur between the frames of life that are worthy of the movies—the ones that don’t make the final cut. On the other hand, it seems that the entire chapbook is a collection of frames, with the reader expected to fill in the blanks, or the space in between. This double meaning that can be ascertained from the title enhances the depth and unity of the chapbook.
Formally, the chapbook contains both prose and verse poetry, with a good number of both. It isn’t clear that there is a reason why certain poems are prose poems and others are verse, other than that they became that way in the poet’s mind or that certain content lent itself better to one type as opposed to the other. However, the variety does keep the reader guessing and provides a certain freshness as one pages through the work.
Immediately following “Untitled, At the Movies” is the poem “Reflection”, which seems to, of all the poems in the collection, provide the reader with a sense of the theme. The final three stanzas of the poem discuss a female cardinal who would always attack the bedroom window. The final stanza of the poem reads, “I’ve heard they die / that way, not knowing it’s only / a mirror, a reflection of themselves.” (26). Here, the window seems to be a metaphor for life itself. Barker may be implying that any human subject’s perception of the external world is a reflection of their internal state. One can attack the world outside of oneself all one’s life, and one will ultimately die having felt that the world was a cruel and depressing place. Or, one can realize that the world reflects one’s mental state and do what one can to reach a more peaceful and accepting state, which will in turn leading to one finding a more peaceful and acceptable world. The chapbook seems to be a story of a journey from a state of discontent to a state of peace.
All told, Between Frames is an intimate and gripping documentation of the poet's personal struggle overcoming a divorce. It's candid and concise style creates a delightful read for any poetry devotee.
January 22, 2013
Pygmalion 9
Book Review, Between Frames 1-19-13
Wendy Barker’s Between Frames is a chapbook in which the poet presents the piece of her life that laid between the frame of being married to a man she did not love and finding a partner who uplifted her. While Frames seems to be written from the typical mind-space of a middle-aged woman—“I’m doing laundry and, oh, look! birds!”—it captures the imagination of the larger poetry scene in the angsty rebirth it presents. An English professor once told me that tension makes a piece interesting—that particular pull between strife and peace. The first two poems of this collection capture this tension, they punch the reader in the face with strife: “[The film is] Supposed to be an Oscar / contender, though one of the critics, the one whose / wife will be late, says he’s not so sure,” BAM! “A year and fifteen days since / we were officially / divorced and yet he is calling,” POP! “I don’t want the recipe for cornbread / he recites to me,” WOW! You have the jaded critics, the divulged divorce, the man divorcee calling his ex. Barker brings the tension down on the reader at the beginning of this collection and never lets up, whether it’s showing how a entire colony of oaks is full of rot, the effects of a movie being banned in China, or how a divorce affects an individual’s psychology.
A fun bit of professional psychology relates to this chapbook quite well. If you’ve ever taken the Psycho-Geometrics® test (by Dr. Susan Dellinger) you will know that the shape you choose as being the one you are most drawn to is reflective of your personality. For example, if the shape you say you are most drawn to is the circle, it means that you desire harmony with other people more than most other things. If you choose a squiggle it means that you desire to express your creativity. If you choose rectangle, however, it means that you are currently in a period of transition. If this chapbook could choose a shape my bet would be that it would choose the rectangle. This is due to the transition Barker displays from one relationship to the next.
It is most delicious to learn about an author’s passion when they do not present it full-blown but simply let it come through as an aside, quite natural and calm. Barker’s environmentalism leaks through her pages and connects this work to an international dialogue. You usually find one or two allusions to the environment per poem. For example, in “Monday” Barker writes, “The trees behind the post office / were bulldozed last week,” and, later, “Another ozone day.” Much of this poem is made up of declarative sentences. Barker is both mimicking news broadcasts and protesting against them at the same time in this poem. She protests against the destruction of the landscape and the pollution of the air. In “Pain: Inhalation”, she writes: “breathe into a paper bag. Better yet, plastic. / Careful, we’re dealing with limited resources.” Not every author would point out that paper and plastic are resources that are costly to the environment to replace. If Barker is like most other published poets then she chooses each word of her print with great care which means that last sentence was placed with great purpose. This lady is an environmentalist or my right arm is my left arm (which reminds me of a joke I heard...”What is blue and smells like red paint? Blue paint.”
And then this is the point in the review in which you say, “You’re getting off topic,”
and I say, “No I’m not, it’s hitting the topic exactly at its heart, just wait until you read the rest,” and you say, “Well, you’re interrupting the flow of the review,”
and I say, “True enough. Let’s continue.) My point is that we can take Barker’s allusion to natural resources at face-value here. She cares about the environment, wants others to care too, and taps into a discourse that has aggressively been taking place world-wide since the 1970s.
This collection is not for the minimalist poet: Barker has the tendency to clutter her poems with words that jar the poem’s flow. If you can get past this, however, it has profound substance to offer. While it seems like the readers who may relate most to Frames are middle-aged female divorcees with a penchant for nature, this is not the only cohort of readers that would gain insight from it. Indeed, peoples of diverse ages and interests would likely respond to the process that Barker presents in this collection: building a new foundation as an adult-person, one made of poetry, self-respect, and a person you chose based on the affection you have for him.
Book Review, Between Frames 1-19-13
Wendy Barker’s Between Frames is a chapbook in which the poet presents the piece of her life that laid between the frame of being married to a man she did not love and finding a partner who uplifted her. While Frames seems to be written from the typical mind-space of a middle-aged woman—“I’m doing laundry and, oh, look! birds!”—it captures the imagination of the larger poetry scene in the angsty rebirth it presents. An English professor once told me that tension makes a piece interesting—that particular pull between strife and peace. The first two poems of this collection capture this tension, they punch the reader in the face with strife: “[The film is] Supposed to be an Oscar / contender, though one of the critics, the one whose / wife will be late, says he’s not so sure,” BAM! “A year and fifteen days since / we were officially / divorced and yet he is calling,” POP! “I don’t want the recipe for cornbread / he recites to me,” WOW! You have the jaded critics, the divulged divorce, the man divorcee calling his ex. Barker brings the tension down on the reader at the beginning of this collection and never lets up, whether it’s showing how a entire colony of oaks is full of rot, the effects of a movie being banned in China, or how a divorce affects an individual’s psychology.
A fun bit of professional psychology relates to this chapbook quite well. If you’ve ever taken the Psycho-Geometrics® test (by Dr. Susan Dellinger) you will know that the shape you choose as being the one you are most drawn to is reflective of your personality. For example, if the shape you say you are most drawn to is the circle, it means that you desire harmony with other people more than most other things. If you choose a squiggle it means that you desire to express your creativity. If you choose rectangle, however, it means that you are currently in a period of transition. If this chapbook could choose a shape my bet would be that it would choose the rectangle. This is due to the transition Barker displays from one relationship to the next.
It is most delicious to learn about an author’s passion when they do not present it full-blown but simply let it come through as an aside, quite natural and calm. Barker’s environmentalism leaks through her pages and connects this work to an international dialogue. You usually find one or two allusions to the environment per poem. For example, in “Monday” Barker writes, “The trees behind the post office / were bulldozed last week,” and, later, “Another ozone day.” Much of this poem is made up of declarative sentences. Barker is both mimicking news broadcasts and protesting against them at the same time in this poem. She protests against the destruction of the landscape and the pollution of the air. In “Pain: Inhalation”, she writes: “breathe into a paper bag. Better yet, plastic. / Careful, we’re dealing with limited resources.” Not every author would point out that paper and plastic are resources that are costly to the environment to replace. If Barker is like most other published poets then she chooses each word of her print with great care which means that last sentence was placed with great purpose. This lady is an environmentalist or my right arm is my left arm (which reminds me of a joke I heard...”What is blue and smells like red paint? Blue paint.”
And then this is the point in the review in which you say, “You’re getting off topic,”
and I say, “No I’m not, it’s hitting the topic exactly at its heart, just wait until you read the rest,” and you say, “Well, you’re interrupting the flow of the review,”
and I say, “True enough. Let’s continue.) My point is that we can take Barker’s allusion to natural resources at face-value here. She cares about the environment, wants others to care too, and taps into a discourse that has aggressively been taking place world-wide since the 1970s.
This collection is not for the minimalist poet: Barker has the tendency to clutter her poems with words that jar the poem’s flow. If you can get past this, however, it has profound substance to offer. While it seems like the readers who may relate most to Frames are middle-aged female divorcees with a penchant for nature, this is not the only cohort of readers that would gain insight from it. Indeed, peoples of diverse ages and interests would likely respond to the process that Barker presents in this collection: building a new foundation as an adult-person, one made of poetry, self-respect, and a person you chose based on the affection you have for him.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews