Mr. Memory & Other Poems

by Phillis Levin

A Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize

An intimate, richly textured new collection from Phillis Levin, a poet whose work "shimmers with gracefulness" (David Baker)

Phillis Levin's fifth collection of poems encompasses a wide array of styles and voices while staying true to a visionary impulse sparked as much by the smallest detail as the most sublime landscape. From expansive meditation to haiku, in ode and epistle, dream sequence and elegy, Levin's new poems explore motifs deeply social and historical, personal and metaphysical. Their various strategies deploy the sonic powers of lyric, the montage techniques of cinema, and the atavistic energies of the oral tradition. Throughout this volume, the singularity of person, place, and thing--and the plurality of our experience--assert their uncanny presence: an ash on a crackling log, a character from Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, a burgundy scarf, an x-ray of Bruegel's "Massacre of the Innocents," and a demitasse cup from Dresden are all woven into a collection by turns rhapsodic and ironic, caustic and incantatory. The pre-Socratic mathematician Zeno facing the riddle of an ordinary day; a cloudbank of silence; a pair of second-hand shoes bought for Anne Frank; two  crows at play above the peak of a mountain; a dot flickering on the horizon: intimate and philosophical, these poems unveil the metamorphic properties of mind and nature.

Genres: Poetry

92 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 29, 2016

Reviews

[Trixy Lemell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick review.

At the start, there was nothing I liked about this collection. I felt as though the poet was trying too hard to give me that "deep" and "dark" poetry and I was just not having it. Personally, I don't like that style, though others may.

The collection did prevail, as I carried on, with several moving, uplifting, and engaging pieces. The images clearer, the story to the point.

My favorite piece from this collection would be, Boy With a Book Bag which deals with bullying. Here are a few lines:

I don't remember the face of the girl
Who took me aside one day and said
That I killed Jesus, relaying the news
Matter-of-factly, without prologue
Or proof, the verdict clear.
....
If I could be accused of killing Christ
Couldn't I be the person the police
Were in hot pursuit of for robbing
A bank at gunpoint in Paterson?
You may ask how a six-year-old
Imagines such a thing, but why not:
What is holding up a bank
Next to murdering Jesus?


Another one of my top pieces being X-Radiograph holds this stanza:

The plunder has begun:it is bringing
Various people to their knees.
That is what a naked eye
Sees (a mother and child in flight
Were partially lost when another side
Of the panel was cut down).
As for the faded pair of socks
In the snow, the are
A faded pair of socks in the snow.

For me, this book was a half hit and half miss with the poetry. Some selections fell flat while others held my attention and a bit of my heart with them, from line to line. Do I recommend it? Yes. It is a quick read, not much of a waste of your time and if you are a person who is confused by poetry, there are many pieces, like my two favorites, that are easier to read and feel. Would I buy the book? No. This is a library copy and will remain that way. In the future, I may consider picking up another book by the author but, as it stands, I can allow her poetry to remain on the shelves.

[Joel Tunnah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A small collection by a poet I haven't read before. Overall I enjoyed it, although a few of the poems left me wondering why they were published. Standouts were "Demitasse" and "Another Room".

[Tom Romig · Rating 2 out of 5]

The rating is no doubt more a reflection of my taste and understanding rather than a useful guide for anyone else. I read Ms. Levin's "End of April" on the Library of Congress 180 site and was quite taken with it, so I got Mr. Memory out of the library. I did enjoy some of the poems in the collection--"Bats in the Pavilion" and "X-Radiograph" for example--but I found most of the others to be inscrutable and, even worse for my palate, impersonal. There's a certain kind of poetry that I think of as academic poetry that seems to be geared towards other poets and other academics. This is fine, of course. I simply prefer poetry that speaks to me directly, that stirs my mind and emotions, that deepens and freshens the way I see the world.

[Sam Albala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lie / light / reef / weep / rain is your name / whisper lives on / one home / spiral / another / natural / pinecone / lichen / portico / scaling a stone / waver / flicker / longed fur you so completely / sullen / unreadable line / souris à nos ivresses/ bottomless loam / rested laugh / ridiculously serious / the crows / bare-boned and mute / theirs is a genius we cannot reenter

[L.B. Sedlacek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool crisp writing. It was hard to put it down. The flow from poem to poem works well. I preferred the shorter poems - it’s quite the feat to put a poem into few words and have them resonate so well.

[Graeme Roberts · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dry intellect painfully excreted in academic seclusion.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely collection of poems.

[Amy Barone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal poems -I found the works enchanting and thought provoking

[Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intelligent & creative.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few gems. Several moments or emotions perfectly caught. I was lost a lot, feeling not privy to the poet's world. But a fun journey.