Part of the Bargain

by Scott Hightower

Part of the Bargain , winner of the Hayden Carruth Award and selected from nearly 1,000 entries, is both a cabinet of curiosities and a sweep of philosophical idylls. Hightower’s poems range in style and subject, with soliloquies, laments, eccentric ponderings, and contemplations of appetite and art. From Door to the Terrace You withdraw from me like a match
From a final cigarette and dance every
Abandonment. The strains of music
That accompany you float away with you. The book’s epigraph evokes a Faustian contract, which is echoed in the tensions between urban and rural, light and dark, moral and amoral action. Hightower’s influences—Sappho, Virgil, Blake, and Wilde—make their presence known as he reflects upon life in urban America after growing up in rural Texas, about coming of age as a gay man, about art and artists, poetry and painting. From Spending the Night Now, in another part of the country,
I hear it called “staying over.”
Back then, a couple of years
was a gaping difference.
The ornately carved door
covering the strings of an upright
melded into the headboard
of the bed . . . Part of the Bargain also explores the imperceptible reconciliations that one makes as an individual, a part of a community, and as a conscientious heir to a culture. Valences of sexuality, nationality, literality all swirl together and perform a balancing act as the poet aspires to pull back the curtain of “the ineffable pageantry” of our multilayered lives. Scott Hightower is the author of two books of poems, Tin Can Tourist and Natural Trouble . His writings have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, including Salmagundi , The Yale Review , and The Paris Review . He teaches at Fordham University and New York University and is a contributing editor to The Journal . He lives in New York City.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2005

Reviews

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Prosy, prosaic and flat. Here are a couple of stanzas from "Indian Statues":

The legend relates that the first Indian statue
sent to the emperor of China by the king of Magadha
was in recognition of aid lent by the emperor
at a time when Magahda
was attacked by the Yavanas (the Greeks).

This statue was included among the treasures
taken in the mid-seventh century to Tibet
by Wen-Cheng, a relation of T'ang T'ai Tsing
and wife of the Tibetan king Sron Tsan Sgam-Po.

That's not only crappy poetry--it's crappy prose. It's extremely passive ("was in recognition" and "was included"). There are words that could easily be deleted (not "the legend relates" but simply "legend relates," for instance, or not "was included among" but simply "was among"). It has no rhythm. It's mediocre journalism. It's a Wikipedia entry.

This is the final stanza of a poem called "Universal Grill":

Our waitress and three waiters wearing
colorful construction-paper bonnets
prance out carrying a plate of something
topped off with a flickering candle.
They surround the table next
to ours. They festively tamp
and shake tambourines in unison.
This third night of your visit
is someone else's birthday.

That's it! "Oh, check it out, someone was born today and went to a restaurant to celebrate!" is the level of observation Hightower considers meaningful enough to end this poem--even though it's not necessary to make the observation explicit because we've all been to restaurants and seen people get a treat on the house because it's their birthday. And again, the language is so flat:

Our waitress and three waiters wearing
colorful paper hats prance out with
a plate of something topped by
a flickering candle. They surround
the table next to ours, tamping and
shaking tambourines in unison.
So much festivity we can borrow enough
to celebrate this third night of your visit.

That's not necessarily great, but it's better than Hightower's version.

The book also doesn't seem like a curated collection; it just seems like a bunch of poems published together.

I won't be reading any more of this guy's work.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part of the Bargain covers much territory with an assured hand. The contrast of here and now with the past, family with the world, Texas with New York, is learned and mature. From coming of age to coming out to the adult acceptance and understanding of one's parents and childhood friends, this book showcases a wise and affectionate eye. I enjoyed the warm and smart appreciation of the mother in it, as well as the propensity for breaking description down into sequences of sound and meaning. I'm inspired by the use of external sources, whether it be Tavern on the Green, ABC Carpet, Marsden Hartley (who my partner William Reichard also writes about in How To, from Mid-List Press) Charles Laughton, or Shakespeare. "Falling Man" is a breathtakingly restrained poem about 9/11--one of the best I've read. Lots of favorite lines, including "'Sovereignty of mind," / mumbled one of the old women who watched and knew," & "I burn / to split you at the heart," but my favorite is "I exercise my privilege not to portray / My father." "Cortege" and "Funeral Song" are equally moving. A powerful book.

[Sarah]

Part of the Bargain (Hayden Carruth Award for New and Emerging Poets) by Scott Hightower (2005)

[Marguerite Hargreaves · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection includes some lovely word alchemy, but the subjects of most of the poems aren't remotely engaging. A different reader might have a better experience.