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Diminished Fifth
In one poem of Diminished Fifth , Jeffrey Bean chants a song about “The song for hiding in the hay./The song for crunching locust shells./The song for snot. /The song for nests./The rat song./The shrimp and bananas song.” He suggests almost anything can be a song, an occasion for the voice raised in celebration or mourning, and he is right. Diminished Fifth is a record of fearless songs of praise and lament of our times.
88 pages, Paperback
First published August 26, 2009
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November 18, 2020
This is a first book of poems that cherishes and celebrates Midwestern landscapes, even if it admits to being amused by some of the quirks and personalities of that landscape. It makes the book seem joyful at times, but I never felt Bean slipped into simply frivolity. When he's frivolous, he's frivolous for good reason.
Like many first books, it searches for structure, and that might be the one thing that bothered me a bit. As the title might indicate, he uses musical intervals as a returning motif. Those and the months of the year progressing like a drum beat through the book. That all got to feeling arbitrary to me, and although I never felt the poems fitting the structural demand were horrible poems, from time to time they did feel a bit ... diminished.
But Bean's musical knowledge and pleasure in organized sound do give the greatest pleasure in the book. When he will use simple repetition to create a beat, or break up usual syntax to make a demand on the reader, these poems are really captivating.
This is work that bodes well for future work. The author enjoys living and has honed his perceptions. It might take him a while to find his audience (or for it to find him), but I think it might happen.
Like many first books, it searches for structure, and that might be the one thing that bothered me a bit. As the title might indicate, he uses musical intervals as a returning motif. Those and the months of the year progressing like a drum beat through the book. That all got to feeling arbitrary to me, and although I never felt the poems fitting the structural demand were horrible poems, from time to time they did feel a bit ... diminished.
But Bean's musical knowledge and pleasure in organized sound do give the greatest pleasure in the book. When he will use simple repetition to create a beat, or break up usual syntax to make a demand on the reader, these poems are really captivating.
This is work that bodes well for future work. The author enjoys living and has honed his perceptions. It might take him a while to find his audience (or for it to find him), but I think it might happen.
Displaying 1 of 1 review