The First Risk

by Charles Jensen

In four extended sequences, Lambda Literary Award Finalist The First Risk confronts the murder of Matthew Shepard and the myth of Venus and Adonis through the eyes of Italian Renaissance painter Luca Cambiaso; the eccentric women of Pedro Almodovar's All About My Mother and their search for authenticity; the nature of love and obsession in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo and the pain and confusion of loss; and ''The Strange Case of Maribel Dixon,'' the compelling novella-in-verse of a physicist in search of his lost wife, haunted by a phantom voice that may or may not be hers.

Genres: Poetry

79 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2009

About the author

Charles Jensen is the author of six chapbooks of poems, including the recent Story Problems and Breakup/Breakdown, and The First Risk, which was a finalist for the 2010 Lambda Literary Award. A second collection, Nanopedia, was published in 2018 by Tinderbox Editions. His previous chapbooks include Living Things, which won the 2006 Frank O’Hara Chapbook Award, and The Strange Case of Maribel Dixon (New Michigan Press, 2007). His poem “Tucson” received the 2018 Zócalo Poetry Prize. A past recipient of an Artist’s Project Grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, his poetry has appeared in American Poetry Review, Bloom, Columbia Poetry Review, Copper Nickel, Field, The Journal, New England Review, and Prairie Schooner. He is the founding editor of the online poetry magazine LOCUSPOINT, which explores creative work on a city-by-city basis. He lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, What A Wondrous Ride!

Charles Jensen is a poet/writer/seer/film fiend/mythology aficionado who somehow marries all of these seemingly disparate aspects of his mind into some of the most exciting work being written today. To this point his creativity has been available by chapbook (it feels as though he is concerned about the transience of this form, so dependent on returning to a printed page is his writing as this first printed/published collection suggests). His commitment to his art is accompanied by an impressive resume: 'He holds an MFA in poetry from Arizona State University and is currently pursuing an MA in Nonprofit Leadership and Management. He is the founding editor of the online poetry magazine LOCUSPOINT, which explores creative work on a city-by-city basis. He serves as director of The Writer's Center, one of the nation's largest independent literary centers. He is also active in his local community by serving on the Board of Directors of the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County and in the national community by serving on the Emerging Leader Council of Americans for the Arts.' But these are facts that can be easily accessed using a search engine or, more impressively, reading the extended eloquent featured article + cover photo in the February Issue of POETS and ARTISTS MAGAZINE (O&S) February 2010. His reputation is established: quid pro quo.

But while facts and data and other pieces of peripheral information my open doors of curiosity about Charles Jensen, it takes spending time with this brilliant first book, THE FIRST RISK, to begin to understand the depth of his talent. The book is a quartet of large works: Safe (a response cum reenactment of the Matthew Shepard tragedy), City of Sad Divas (musings on the 'female' characters from the cinematic output of Pedro Almodóvar), The Double Blind: A Critical Text (an amazingly unique combination of notes and storyboard lyrics facing pages of the dilemmas of analyzing Alfred Hitchcock's films), and The Strange Case of Maribel Dixon (a novella of sorts steaming with romance and corporal transformation into energy form that is as fine a plot for a film as any circulating out there). Four quite distinct elements of a quartet, these, but obviously the work of a gifted man not afraid of exploring the dark and not afraid of viewing the world as an ongoing motion picture.

While each of these four major pieces is stunning (it is difficult not to grab a pencil and underline portions that jump out and gobble the reader's eyes and mind - an example from The Strange Case of Maribel Dixon 'There is no poverty of reasons. Reasons are sticking their pointy noises from the soil all over the yard and each one smells like you. And I know the reasons will bloom into permissions at any moment.'), the piece that opens the book -'Safe' - is surely one of the finest extended works of American poetry yet written. The act of Matthew Shepard's heinous slaughter is recreated in spaces, in portions almost too tough to digest, and is broken by Jensen's reflections on the 1565 drawing (not painting!) 'Venus and Adonis' by Luca Cambiaso in which Venus comes down to tend to the death of Adonis. Jensen becomes part of that tragic scene:

'I recognize his face through all the dried blood. They say
the skin showed through only where his tears ran down

and it means all through the night
he felt pain'

and at the end of the poem Jensen writes

'Now the event is inside us,
rank and sour. We carry his sadness like a gene.'

Excerpts as powerful as these fill the pages of this book. But there are also present in this collection moments of transcendent physical love, imagination, light air, and solid evidence that Charles Jensen, in this his first published book, has arrived at a peak reserved for the finest. Highly recommended.

Grady Harp

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't remember finding out about Matthew Shepard's slaying. I was seventeen when it happened, a self-hating closeted gay Mormon, halfway through my first semester at Brigham Young University. Did I think he deserved it, the way I thought gays deserved to die of AIDS for their sins? I hope not, but I'm afraid to remember too well.

I am the failure of the body to remain a boy,
I am the remains of a boy, the body of his failure. ("I Am the Boy Who Is Tied Down", p. 7)

The first section—"Safe"—interweaves various viewpoints on Matthew Shepard's last moments with three poems describing Venus's grief at the death of Adonis. The language is brutal, visceral, and the tone moves from cold and dissociated to immediate and passionate. Reading this section, it was like I was hearing about the killing for the first time. And this time, at least, I know I didn't think he deserved it.

* * *

When I finally came out to myself as a gay man, and began to accept myself and to stop blaming myself for who and what I was, I took an entire summer to watch what I saw as the "gay canon," films I had been too afraid to watch until that point. One of the first of these was Almodóvar's masterpiece, All About My Mother.

I tell you, chica,

If you want something done,
Do it with a knife. ("La Agrado Explains Plastic Surgery", p. 25)

The second section—"City of the Sad Divas"—is a collection of poems associated with All About My Mother and its characters: Manuela, who has lost her son; La Agrado and the other transsexual hookers; Huma Rojo and her heroin-addicted lover, Nina; and the city of Barcelona itself, where much of the action takes place. In these poems, the reader does not relive the film; rather, the violence and passion and filth of the film are held at arms length, looked over with a dark and dubious eye, considered, and then let go.

* * *

I've always hated Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, although it is often gorgeous to watch, because I never believed for a minute that any of it was happening. All of the characters annoy me, the plot annoys me, and Scottie's obsession and eventual unraveling annoy me.

To be golden-haired means
you are destined to be idolized;

brunettes have less fun
but keep better secrets. ("Hair and Make-Up Notes, Scene 92", p. 50)

The fourth section—"The Double Bind: A Critical Text"—presents a critical analysis of Vertigo, and includes all kind of tantalizing details about the cast, director and the narrative and directorial choices in the film. I have no idea if any of these details are true; that is not the point: they are simply too delicious to resist. Each snippet, naturally, is accompanied by an associated poem. One thing that must be said in Vertigo's favor is that it is beautifully shot, composed and scored. Unlike the previous collection, these silky little poems do much more to evoke the actual feel of parts of the film.

One result of reading this section is that I have the sudden desire to see Vera Miles play the Kim Novak role (and, really, anyone else play the Jimmy Stewart role).

* * *

I've already reviewed the fourth section, "The Strange Case of Maribel Dixon," elsewhere on this site. I have nothing to add to that review except this:

This is good poetry.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful poems; beautifully arranged and constructed collection--divided into 4 sections with different subject matter, so to speak, but all share the same concerns (self (re)construction). It's no accident that the cover image is a partial person.

If I had to choose a favorite poem, I'd say "I am the boy who is tied down." Eerily calm, incantatory statements shoved inside an unspeakably heartbreaking catastrophe:


"I am the boy who is tied down.

I am the moon. A boy is tied down to a fence by his wrists
while two boys look on.

Sky bears down on the landscape like an open mouth.
The mountains sink into the earth. Shards of broken teeth..."


Strangely shaped (wish it were a little smaller and more wieldy, as I like to wield books), captivating book of poems.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this collection.

That said, the early section dealing with the death of Matthew Shepard did throw me a little bit. Having lived in Laramie at the time and being close to the situation, there were a couple of factual mis-steps, I felt. I had to come to the realization that (this section - as well as a lot of) poetry is more concerned with the statement over the truth. Once I let things go, it was easier to meet the poet on their own ground and really appreciate what they have accomplished.

Overall, I am impressed with the emotional intensity of the poems within while also liking their intellectual depth. I have often said that poetry that can make me feel *and* think is what I prefer and this collection really did that for me. I definitelly recommend it.

[Matthew Hittinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review: http://matthewhittinger.com/m/2009/09...

[Elisa Rolle · Rating 5 out of 5]

2009 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention (5* from at least 1 judge)