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Beautiful Rust: Poems
Ken Meisel's got the beat in his hit parade of Motown poems. I love his long lines and smoky fires, the effect gravity has on the living and the dead. His Purgatorio includes Marvin Gaye, an echo of better times painted onto a billboard overlooking the freeway and Dubois Street. Meisel is interested in the music of �grassy fields and abandoned places...wild pheasants and drunks.� He is our modern Virgil talking us through the Rinaldo Arms Manor. Read him and be saved.
�Russell Thorburn, poet, author of Father, Tell Me I Have Not Aged, The Whole Tree as Told to the Backyard, and The Drunken Piano
�Russell Thorburn, poet, author of Father, Tell Me I Have Not Aged, The Whole Tree as Told to the Backyard, and The Drunken Piano
- GenresPoetry
96 pages, Paperback
First published September 4, 2009
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 25, 2010
Because I read so much working class literature, I did think to myself when I picked up Kein Meisel's book of poetry about Detroit, what else is there to say about this city that hasn't already been said in the world of poetry? (Forgive me, please, all of you who are from Detroit!) Afterall, the poetry of Jim Daniels and Philip Levine has explored the Rust Belt city for decades....
The answer to my own question is Meisel has plenty to say, and he says it well. This collection does more than merely offer a recap of what has been said about Detroit -- it answers the important question, What will happen to Detroit now? Meisel shifts through the rust and debris and the past to review this city's history and find hope in its future.
One whole section of the book is dedicated to Motown; he explores the city's musical history in such poems as "The Funk Brothers at the Chit Chat Lounge" and "Diana Ross & the Supremes."
Other sections celebrate the poet's true love of a city in decay. Sometimes, the poet finds life in a "Detroit Meat Warehouse." Sometimes, the poet finds life in "The Lamb Skin Company." My very favorite poem is titled "Elegy for the Residents of the Niagara Apartments" where the poet starts off saying, "Because there are stories too disturbing to retell/I have to talk about the field of yellow flowers//growing like orphans in the wild, tangles of grass..."
Meisel's poems are a bit hard to find on the Internet, but I did find a favorite in "The City is a Woman"
http://www.loriamay.com/ambassador/Me...
All in all, Meisel's is a fine addition to my collection of working class poetry.
The answer to my own question is Meisel has plenty to say, and he says it well. This collection does more than merely offer a recap of what has been said about Detroit -- it answers the important question, What will happen to Detroit now? Meisel shifts through the rust and debris and the past to review this city's history and find hope in its future.
One whole section of the book is dedicated to Motown; he explores the city's musical history in such poems as "The Funk Brothers at the Chit Chat Lounge" and "Diana Ross & the Supremes."
Other sections celebrate the poet's true love of a city in decay. Sometimes, the poet finds life in a "Detroit Meat Warehouse." Sometimes, the poet finds life in "The Lamb Skin Company." My very favorite poem is titled "Elegy for the Residents of the Niagara Apartments" where the poet starts off saying, "Because there are stories too disturbing to retell/I have to talk about the field of yellow flowers//growing like orphans in the wild, tangles of grass..."
Meisel's poems are a bit hard to find on the Internet, but I did find a favorite in "The City is a Woman"
http://www.loriamay.com/ambassador/Me...
All in all, Meisel's is a fine addition to my collection of working class poetry.
Displaying 1 of 1 review