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Playground
"Playground" picks up momentum from Benevento's previous two books of poetry, his volume of "selected" poems, (Expecting Songbirds 1983-2015), and his chapbook of poems in his own invented form, After, by including poems with an even wider range of publication dates than in Expecting Songbirds, and the presence of eight new "After" poems among its twenty-six lyrics.
Themes such as the after effects of unrequited love, growing up in working class Queens, the redeeming potential in family, all make their appearance. This collection offers far more than recapitulation, though, with poems set in places as varied as a bagel shop in Columbus, a tapas bar in downtown Miami and a barrio in East Oakland, and subjects ranging from rehabbing a shoulder impingement, to participating in a track program for underprivileged youth to inventing a new kind of cake.
Throughout these poems, Benevento affirms, as he has in published work for over thirty-five years now, his obsession with the paradox of poetry's ability to offer hope to a world that seems often hopeless without it.
Themes such as the after effects of unrequited love, growing up in working class Queens, the redeeming potential in family, all make their appearance. This collection offers far more than recapitulation, though, with poems set in places as varied as a bagel shop in Columbus, a tapas bar in downtown Miami and a barrio in East Oakland, and subjects ranging from rehabbing a shoulder impingement, to participating in a track program for underprivileged youth to inventing a new kind of cake.
Throughout these poems, Benevento affirms, as he has in published work for over thirty-five years now, his obsession with the paradox of poetry's ability to offer hope to a world that seems often hopeless without it.
44 pages, Paperback
First published March 19, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 27, 2019
In Joe Benevento’s PLAYGROUND, poems can be found everywhere. Significance appears in a child’s drawing, via a successful recipe, and, always, through the memories that are too firmly imprinted to be forgotten. Benevento’s language is invitingly familiar, and that’s where his craft lies. He makes it look easy but don’t be fooled. These poems are hard wrought insights revealed in carefully crafted lines.
October 6, 2022
A poet like Joe Benevento, who pays attention to life’s small details, doesn’t need to wait for major traumas or esoteric topics to find something to write. He’s prolific, sometimes a bit nostalgic, as he writes everyday poems. We can all relate to his work unless you grew up with wealth enough to last several lifetimes and missed those “all in this together” moments. Don’t worry, though, Benevento will fill you in on what you missed.
A couple of neighbors had recently shared stories with me about possums thought to be dead and how they’d “played possum” so beautifully that my neighbors were preparing for burial or garbage can rites, so I especially enjoyed “What Cannot Be Feigned”:
“...Even when there is no blood
scarletting the street
even when all the important injuries
are internal, as in life,
that perfect possum body
surely will not rise again,
there being, after all,
so much more to dying than lying
perfectly still, suffering
a few flies to ponder future
maggot nurseries
in your quiet corpse.”
When Benevento’s daughter and son both draw butterflies for one of his poetry books, his son says he wants to keep all of his for his bedroom, solving any worries about hurt feelings from the publisher’s choices. But Benevento still offers his poet’s critique:
“If there’s a flaw in each child’s
depictions, it’s how cute
and friendly they have made
their butterfly faces.
Look close enough at a real one’s head
and you’ll see the part that’s still caterpillar
ugly.”
A couple of neighbors had recently shared stories with me about possums thought to be dead and how they’d “played possum” so beautifully that my neighbors were preparing for burial or garbage can rites, so I especially enjoyed “What Cannot Be Feigned”:
“...Even when there is no blood
scarletting the street
even when all the important injuries
are internal, as in life,
that perfect possum body
surely will not rise again,
there being, after all,
so much more to dying than lying
perfectly still, suffering
a few flies to ponder future
maggot nurseries
in your quiet corpse.”
When Benevento’s daughter and son both draw butterflies for one of his poetry books, his son says he wants to keep all of his for his bedroom, solving any worries about hurt feelings from the publisher’s choices. But Benevento still offers his poet’s critique:
“If there’s a flaw in each child’s
depictions, it’s how cute
and friendly they have made
their butterfly faces.
Look close enough at a real one’s head
and you’ll see the part that’s still caterpillar
ugly.”
May 22, 2019
Joe Benevento's poems in this collection tell you stories in an honest way almost as if you've been part of his life. Allusions to his musical and literary heroes are in a mellow harmony with some vivid images he captures with his eloquent choice of words.
The poem titled "Lemon-Blueberry Cake" leaves readers with a glimpse of his flair with baking that somehow resonates like "bubbles seven minutes before completion...leaving the cake's chemistry to answer for its additions".
All in all a reflective, self-analytical, prismatic sojourn.
My favorite set of lines would be: "we hang hopes ever/green with the thought there is/something more lasting/than once pretty paper torn/towards the garbage,"(After December 25th)
The poem titled "Lemon-Blueberry Cake" leaves readers with a glimpse of his flair with baking that somehow resonates like "bubbles seven minutes before completion...leaving the cake's chemistry to answer for its additions".
All in all a reflective, self-analytical, prismatic sojourn.
My favorite set of lines would be: "we hang hopes ever/green with the thought there is/something more lasting/than once pretty paper torn/towards the garbage,"(After December 25th)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews