Scars

by Peter Meinke

Peter Meinke is one of the most readable poets.  The surface clarity of his lines and his aptness for metaphor make these poems accessible and mysterious.  They have real subjects - Dessert Storm and acorns, coffee and Tolstoy -  but at the same time give entry to that interior world where all feelings and moralities grow.

Genres: Poetry

88 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1996

Reviews

[Jonathan Tennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few about science and math, a few about family, a few about the craft. Another great collection of Meinke poems. My favorites were: 3.141592…; Artist of the Heart; Black Holes & Einstein; Fever in Fiesole; Labels, 1972; Learning Italian; Quick Off The Mark; Rondini; Scars; The First Marriage; The Secret Code; The Triumph of Desert Storm; Warpath; Yes, Einstein

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some I liked, and some I didn't.

[Timothy Juhl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Meinke is a mentor of mine. I attended a few workshops and poetry seminars with him back in the 1990s, and he helped me to find the undiscovered forms lurking in my early work. He lifted poetry to a new level of gamesmanship. For him, poetry is full of tricks and hidden surprises that can make reading it like following a treasure hunt.

There are a couple of misses in this collection, but even those have brilliant moments. Meinke eschews punctuation (I like this) and uses spacing and various poetic techniques to guide the reader into the rhythms of his lines.

He's an expert on poetic forms and he deftly reinvents the pantoum, the villanelle, into modern moments of glorious wordsmithing.

And lastly, though he uses form and slant rhyme and odd meters, that doesn't mean his poetry is completely inaccessible to the average reader. Just the opposite. Peter Meinke might just make you a poetry lover.