Dare Say: Poems

by Tod Marshall

Three long poems illuminate broken and violated things, using Bach, Kandinsky, and "Botticelli" as raw material for poetic musing. Winner of the Contemporary Poetry Series Competition. (Poetry)

Genres: Poetry

88 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2002

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there weren’t so many lovely books of poetry in the world, this one would be enough—a slim volume that pretty much distills the essence of life and the universe between its covers. The book itself isn’t just a collection of poems but rather a three-part musical composition with movement and voices that play, entwine, swell, soar, complexify, and resolve.

The poems are lyrical, sometimes with a suggestion of narrative, but mostly collages of images and ideas, arrangements by a great mind imposing order on its universe. Some poems may send you to Google to find out which composer had twenty children (Bach) or whether Bottichelli, in a tragic fit of religious zeal, really burned his nudes. Some evoke a feeling, a universal sentiment, exquisite and resonant as a gong struck in the silence of a cold winter morning. In Tod Marshall’s collection, I suspect that every attentive reader will find

a poem that arrives on time
and demands everyone
nail it to the wall.
--“After Kandinsky”

From the vulgar (a painter’s request to “paint her pissing”) to the sublime (caressing the wings of angels), disparate elements—nature, history, music, metaphysical religion, and everyday human experience—commingle like colors of paint on a canvas.

I leave you with a few lines from the final poem, "Metaphysic, with Applebee's":

. . . what will it take
to make you believe that he and you, all those I’s
and its, the ugly and glorious things . . .
are light? . . .

all the dejected excrement and holy hosts
of this blessed mess
shine. Yes, we shine.

For anyone who really loves poetry and occasionally ponders the human condition, Dare Say is a “must read.”

[Lenora Good · Rating 5 out of 5]

When one reads a poem, one reads emotion, condensed. One does not devour books of poetry as one devours fiction, for each poem must be read alone, tasted, savored. Some poems will be bitter, some sweet, most will be the main course of crisp, salt, pepper, chew. Dare Say, in my opinion, is a well-balanced meal for the soul.

I believe my favorite poem, today, is Metaphysic, with Blue. The next time I read the book, and there will be a next time, it very well may be Nocturne. Whatever it is, I know my soul will again be satisfied.

[Kris Dinnison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection begins with a beautiful series of pieces around music and birth which includes the words of Hildegard of Bingen, discussions of Brahms, and a variety of other powerful threads Marshall weaves together skillfully. I came away from this collection most struck by Marshall's unique and powerful imagery. I dog-eared several pages so I can go back to lines that resonated and inspired me.

http://scribbleandhum.blogspot.com/20...

[Bridget · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was written by Professor Tod Marshall who I had the pleasure of taking all three of my English courses with. If you like poetry, this is really good stuff. Definitely worth purchasing.