Wild Soil

by Frank R. Chappell

Part prayer book, part anthropological treatise, the poetry of Wild Soil describes and analyzes the often contradictory motivations for human emotions and behavior. In these verses, comprised of several years worth of selected material from various stages of his life, author Frank R. Chappell explores the follies of melancholic youthfulness, exuberant love, energetic faith, complete nihilism, profane tirades, and sacred contemplation. This collection presents a narrative of the individual’s navigation through reality as a fretful sojourn of introspection that yields beautiful fruit. It celebrates the unseen victory in everyday failures, the human imperative to create meaning in all things, and the ability to stumble upon the permeating feeling of interconnectedness in our struggle for purpose. Taking an anthropological approach, this collection of poetry offers a raw and unusual consideration of humanity’s paradoxes and contradictions

Genres: Poetry

146 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 23, 2016

Reviews

[Sarah Furger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chappell’s poems are real and raw and lovely. They feel familiar to me. Have you ever had that kind of deja-vú sensation when you read something new but feel like you’ve heard a version of it before, in a conversation with friends or in a dream? It’s kind of like that. While I really enjoyed the collection as a whole, several individual poems stood out to me. “Sunlight From a Slit in the Blinds” for example, using Donne to set the tone and then using this simple moment as one for reflection, peace, and rejuvenation, was really beautifully done. I also really loved “Thoughts on Solitude”. That last stanza, “When I am gone, / keep the silence, and this house / I will be the rain.”

I’ll definitely be looking out for Chappell’s work in the future!

[Kickboxer42985 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am always wary of purchasing books from independent publishers or self-published authors, but I have found that more and more excellent authors are turning to these resources to avoid the bureaucracy of "traditional publishing." Wild Soil is exactly why they should!

This volume includes six sections of poetry from various times in the author's life when, I believe, he experienced moments of clarity from contemplating the social construction of reality and the need for purpose in our lives.

Many contain religious overtones and observations such as in "The Product of Ritual" section (to please the atheist and believer alike) while "Devotions" stand as some of the most moving poems to a lover I have ever read.

I enjoyed the final section, "Meditations," wherein 15 poems convey themes of our place in the natural world, images of nostalgia, and the shaman-like feeling of unity with the world. Appropriately, the poem "Blood of the World" concludes and summarizes the volume and undoubtedly expresses the emotion that inspires the author to write.

I highly recommend this book for it's honestly (especially the colloquial style of the Preface which explains an anthropological approach to poetry), style, and beauty. The quality and quantity of writing alone made this a worthwhile purchase!

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a bit of eclectic mix of poetry, and I liked it. Part philosophical, part religious, and part anthropological. One of my favorites was #8 in "Nameless Prayers".

in a wall of 1,000 skulls
what distinguishes
yours
from the rest?

nothing

it is the flesh
that carries
the mark
of the test

I've never been a fan of poetry that has a complete lack of punctuation, as I find it distracts from the message, but Frank Chapppell's messages manage to come through loud and clear in this collection.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First-Reads.

[Brian Koppen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven’t read William Blake since I was a teenager, but Frank Chappell’s Wild Soil impressed me for the same reasons. The writing is vivid, savage, and poetic.

Mental images are continuously created. Ideals are bricks being stacked and baked in the sun. Demons are hiding in closets after they are exorcised. Colorful gases are escaping to carry souls between stars. Giant trees are personified, with the narrator longing to lie by their side, seeping into liquid just to feed those “monsters.”

The language is savage – always forceful in impact. Roots are choking the life from one another. Bodies are bursting with decay. A cobra's being skinned alive – “its scaled shaft glistening of predation.”

Wild Soil is full of poetic language and ideas. Hop on a train car that is death, and reach the final station where a train arrives to grind your bones and baggage. Find your significant other next to you in hell, suffering your flames; her “singed wings smolder and hide." Bandage a gash so you can bleed from somewhere else.

As with Blake, there are lessons to learn from Frank Chappell’s Wild Soil. It teaches us how to live: “When you’ve paid your debt / in blood and consequences, / guilt and failure, / Rest.” It teaches us how to die: “When I am gone, / keep the silence, and this house / I will be the rain.”

[Natalie Susa · Rating 4 out of 5]

most of these poems were so beautiful. overall really allowed space for self reflection and introspection. I felt that I related most his words on religion and his desire for meditation without a figure head and his struggle to find peace with that notion. I also really enjoyed his words on love and relationships and how those related to his thoughts on religion. I'd really like to read his other book of poetry because of this.

[Stacy Smalley · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much depth and talent are the words written in this book. A true piece of art, resonating with me from the very beginning. The devotions section and poems to Anna are absolutely beautiful…. What a joy to read!