Black Leapt In by Chris Forhan

by Chris Forhan

Open Black Leapt In to any poem for the thrill of finding a poet of eerie energy breaking new ground. These pages are full of unexpected images, passionate energy, and entirely new ways of making the homely, heartbreaking world as beautiful and odd as it deserves to be. The lines and their grief-stricken cadences invent a new music for the American experience. “ our toes and shoes, the tongues and laces …” of “Fourth Grade Science.” “That billowy thing in flames back there?/That’s not my circus tent. Never seen it.” I have been reading Chris Forhan's poetry with pleasure for many years, but this new book kept me up late with its tricks and terrors as no recent collection has, thank God, for a long, long time.—Laura KasischkeThese poems have in them something of Theodore Roethke’s excitement at being alive in the physical world—how much there is to see!—as well as Roethke’s certainty of the darkness threaded all through that world. Yet they remain wholly Chris Forhan’s poems—brooding and exuberant, tender and amazed. “The heart gets sad, you slap it,” he writes. Fiercely observant, richly inventive, and sometimes very funny, Black Leapt In is a terrific book.—Lawrence Raab

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published July 1, 2009

Reviews

[Jerome Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of poems abounds with vivid descriptions that conjure up images of one’s childhood as well as impressionable surroundings that may seem insignificant but cherished. Descriptions like “do squirrel-work”; “leafy secrecy of a spring willow”; and, “He tired of the sun burying itself at sea each day then resurrecting, tired of the way it peels the shadow off a water tower as if it were a surgeon’s glove. Neat trick.” I could put more in the review but I suggest you browse through Forhan’s poetry yourself.

Black Leapt In is a fine book to reflect on cherishing childhood memories. I recommend it.

[Astrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book of poems is brimming with a nostalgia I had trouble relating to at times, but the poems are such concise and compact interrogations of a moment, I kept turning the page. Take your time with this one.

[L.J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-31...

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

p. 75 What He Left Behind
p. 49 Rock Polisher