Aerial

by Bin Ramke

Aerial is concerned with the sky―its cloud-laden aspects in the first section, its dry realms of severe spirituality in the second. And as poetry is always about attention to language, the words “cloud” and “clod”―a shape of vapor and a shape of dirt―are key to this book’s antithetical obsessions. But so, too, are words such as “father,” “hunger,” and “edge.” The implied narrative behind the poems has to do with family, but especially with loss of family members and how the connections they once formed live on for good or ill. The frail human community―always touching earth and touched by sky, by winds, weather, and words as if from God or the gods―lies behind every stanza. Ramke’s early work in mathematics and his many years as a literary editor result in a diction and style which moves readily among scientific, religious, and literary discourse and discoveries. His desire to bring “fact” into the sharpest focus (remembering the connection between fact and manufacture) results in a tumbling sort of movement through the shadowy areas of consciousness into the boundary areas where knowledge is adventure.

Genres: Poetry

112 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2012

Reviews

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clouds, birds, skies, and death - these are the recurring themes explored in Aerial. The complexity of the words on the page made them demand full attention, and I'm not sure how a person would ever read a poem out loud that has quotes from other people in the middle, interrupting the flow.

I read poetry for connection and reflection, but I mean that applied to how I respond to the poem. In most of these poems, Ramke shows his own reflection on the page. He pulls in quotations, interrupts himself mid-thought, and brings back ideas from previous works, almost as if he wasn't done thinking about them yet.

The poem that really stuck out to me is Continuous Contemplation, 1 through 3.

1 has the line

"To cure him of his mind is to unstir
the egg from the batter; who
is he but embodied mind:"

And a bit of 2 includes

"In the corner one hums, unhurried.

There are those who can hum anything
to anyone, and to make love this way is to make
with the mouth an apocalypse of purpose;
the teeth remain covered, the hard
edge to the mouth mysterious,
remains momentous memory.

Love as made is not a thing. Or is thought."

[C. Varn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably my favorite Ramke work since his late 1990s book, Wake. Exploring clouds, air, birds, and the layers of the unsaid, Ramke continues he use of materiality as metaphor that has defined most of his work for the last decade. Ramke's alternating between an almost scientific lexicon and highly drawn images with allusions and personal mythology work particularly well and cohesively in this collection. Like most of Ramke's work, his ability to layer and to rely on subtextual connection and thematic repetition can be intimidating, but close reading reaps much reward with Ramke and the thematic unity of this work in particular makes it one of the more approachable of Ramke's collections.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heard Bin reading poems from this book at the LA Festival of books last month. Interesting wordplay - found it complex at first but with re-readings I am liking it more and more. Clouds, weather, life, death, will are all examined.