Rank

by Aaron McCollough

“I guess an iceflow came through / to take the road,” writes Aaron McCollough in Rank, a richly strange sequence of poems in which forces of nature, mind, spirit, and language partake of each other in vibrant and shifting ways. “I can only guess that would / destroy these remains slowly,” McCollough continues. Indeed, Rank seeks to recover sources of imaginative meaning from the unsettled remnants of lyric tradition, seeking out possibilities for belief and sustenance in the echoes of lapsed poetic speech and song.

In language that is dense, allusive, by turns trancelike and mordantly funny, McCollough descends into the ranks of disintegrating organic life and finds elemental processes of regeneration underway, “ivy suckers climbing / the knock kneed craning bridge / to that bright food.” This is work that emerges in the aftermath of declining systems of hierarchy and order, a site marked by the overlapping of occult practices and postmodern physics, tense meditation, and economic anonymity. McCollough gives rise to a voice that is as much vegetative as human, as deeply embedded in the loam of cultural memory as it is new, original, and lavishly daring.

Genres: Poetry

82 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2015

About the author

Aaron McCollough's books of poetry include Welkin, Double Venus, Little Ease, No Grave Can Hold My Body Down, Underlight, Rank, and Salms. He was raised in Tennessee. He holds a PhD in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan as well as an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have been adding more poetry to my reading list, both classics and modern. There is so much out there that I have either enjoyed, admired or appreciated. Sadly, Rank did not fall into any of those groups. After repeatedly trying, I found this piece ultimately inaccessible for me.

My final impression is as my first. Occasionally, I was captured by an image, a phrase, a thought or what was almost a complete sentence. But most of the poem is presented in what, to me, were somewhat disconnected bits and pieces and I struggled to find a unifying chord other than the natural world (and possibly a comparison to the inner world...indoor, in mind?) What way in to the poem as a whole? I was not able to find it and am not motivated to read this a second (or more) time to try to parse it out for myself. There are moments of interesting, occasionally beautiful or captivating imagery, but no underlying narrative to hold on to, that seems to hold/tie everything together. I'm sure other readers will and do find more in this work but I believe it is not for everyone.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

[Akylina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poetry included in this book is absolutely beautiful, though a bit complex. It felt difficult for me to grasp the whole essence of what the poet was trying to convey upon a single reading, yet further readings of this book appeal to me immensely.

I loved the imagery of the poems and the words the poet chose to employ were merely wonderful and breathtaking. The way the old was interweaved with the new, in terms of diction, and the natural world with the fantasy one was marvelous. While reading this book, images of enchanted forests and mythical places were crossing my mind.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this poetry collection.

A copy was very kindly provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some nice alliteration and pleasant imagery of flora, fauna and musical instruments. However, I struggled to find any overarching meaning in these run-on poems. In fact, I could not tell you what a single one of them is actually about. Story is just as important as sound in poetry, I feel, and in that respect this collection was lacking.

[Joseph Spuckler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry of a world seen through the fog. It is more than a complete picture of what is being presented. Words give us pieces and the pieces combine to something greater than the whole. The lines of poetry in Rank work like the human eye. There are blind spots, but our brains compensate for this allowing us to see a complete uninterrupted picture. McCollough does this with his words. A quick glance at the lines and the reader misses the big picture. Time is needed for the brain to complete the image.

There are several themes running through the collections. Living inside to the outdoors are compared -- chestnut tangles outside and coffee cups on a glass table inside. Nature fights at the man-made world -- roots breaking through a wall. There is scale in the sloping shelves of the sea and the sloping shelves of the galaxy. The inside muffles our senses.

Outside the capsule of the self but not
so far you're alone, guitar
Listen
to the fugue, a word for flower.

The fugue: the music or the loss of awareness?


McCollugh weaves together words in a near magical form. It is thinking poetry. A casual glance will not do it justice. There is a feeling of growth beyond the present, a more natural state of things. The man-made world fails in all respects except one -- the guitar. It is the beacon that connects worlds and images.

___________________________________


Aaron McCollough's books of poetry include Welkin, Double Venus, Little Ease, and No Grave Can Hold My Body Down. He was raised in Tennessee. He holds a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan as well as an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He studies the influence of "passion" on the religious poetics of late 16th and early 17th Century England.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have this book on Kindle and although I don't much like poetry on Kindle, I'm glad in this instance as the book made good use of my automatic dictionary and word look up. Many of the words are archaic - faned, antic - and some are just beautiful... I love thalweg (a line connecting the lowest points of successive cross sections along the course of a valley or river - isn't thalweg way more poetic?).

Much of the poetry is complex and I won't pretend to have "got it" in the several readings I've done but I enjoy the language enough - especially as I learn the new words - to keep rereading.

How can you not love: -

"The woods sing out to welcome the coming judgement, a wood may go on forever."

"A terrific mass, like a star,
invisible, immeasurable,
impossibly remote,
containing every length
every resource.
Time and the remainder."

Try reading the lines out loud (as I think poetry should be read but I try not to do it on the train any more) and you find the language is beautiful. There is a lot of internal "rhyme" and echo words and the work really needs to be read aloud in large chunks to get the rhythm and start to pick up the meaning. It isn't really separate poems but a whole piece and merits careful reading.

As I say I need to read this a few more times but it warrants the effort.

Treat yourself to a paper copy and shut yourself in a room with rain battering on a window and enjoy.

I was given a free copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.