Tipping Point

by Fred Marchant

Poetry. Introduction by Nick Flynn. With his deft and timeless blend of the lyrical and narrative, Fred Marchant explores the wars inside us and the ones we wage in the spiritual, familial, political."In the spirit of Wilfred Owen, TIPPING POINT is a book seared by personal and historical fact. Many artists are eager to assume the mantle of 'witness,' as if will or ambition could do the work of experience and imagination. In contrast, the gravity, modesty, and moral questioning in Marchant's poems reveal a mind committed to a version of history that is resolutely human scale."—Tom Sleigh"Explicit in its detailing, subtly graded in its responsiveness, TIPPING POINT is also a kind of latter-day metaphysics of morals. Marchant searches out the hidden springs of action and yet never loses sight of the larger contexts in which our deeds and gestures come to matter. An honest, earned book."—Sven Birkerts

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1994

About the author

Fred Marchant is a professor of English and the director of the creative writing program and the poetry center at Suffolk University in Boston. He graduated from Brown University and later earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He is a longtime teaching affiliate of the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, as he was himself a conscientious objector within the military during the Vietnam War. He has taught workshops at various sites across the country, including The Frost Place (Franconia, NH), the Fine Arts Work Center (Provincetown, MA), and the Veterans Writing Group (Sebastopol, CA). In 2009 Marchant was co-winner (with Afaa Michael Weaver) of the May Sarton Award from the New England Poetry Club, given to poets whose “work is an inspiration to other poets.”

Reviews

[Karen Kish]

Patty included Blink by the same author; Tipping Point is the first book and might be good to read first if others haven't yet read either of the books (which I haven't). This is the recommendation from Sandy K. who has read both.

[Izy Carney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought Fred Marchant’s poems on the Vietnam War were compelling—he enlisted voluntarily in order to achieve some sense of being a great poet and then immediately regretted the decision once there. This offered an honest look at the idea v. the reality of war and “glory” and the consequences that will have on your moral character for the rest of your life. You can be a conscientious objector, but if you went in the first place, what kind of burden does that place on your soul? It’s interesting that in the later poems about his parent’s death, he is so much more focused on his father’s death, perhaps because seeing him sick and dying was startling compared to the violent, powerful place his father held in his life as a child. I wonder if the same was true for my own dad.

It was also cool to accidentally come across a local DC literary magazine! Definitely interested in what else the Word Works has to offer.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are poems of compassion, which make the reader aware of oneself. Whether s/he is present. Whether s/he is willing to be present at the point of testing and transition. I like that Marchant acknowledges Black and Native American foundations in the American tapestry without flinching as in “Demby in the River” and “Mayan Figures in Stone. ” "C.O." is a particularly telling piece of the zeitgeist during U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and of poets guiding how he ultimately participates.

In the introduction, Nick Flynn makes particular note of Marchant’s wisdom of finding “purchase” in a poem. Marchant experiences his purchase on the body of the earth and in historic passage with unusual subtlety.

[Antonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tipping Point was published 20 years ago (Word Works, 1993), but this is the first book I've read by Fred Marchant and I like it well enough to seek out more of his work. This collection won the 1993 Washington Prize in poetry. He has three other collections: Full Moon Boat (2000), House on Water, House in Air (2002), and The Looking House (2009). He is also the editor of a volume of the early poems of William Stafford (who, like Marchant, was a conscientious objector).

The poems are what I call formal, but they are free of meter and rhyme. I find this kind of writing extremely pleasing. I like a poem that makes a figure on the page (no, not shape poems). You know what I mean. The lines are arranged in stanzas that follow a pattern. (I didn't always appreciate/agree with his line breaks). :)

Some of the poems focus on his boyhood, especially poems of growing up in a house terrorized by his violent father. Descriptions of his father beating his mother are painful to read (but account for only a little of the text, in case this is off-putting). Autobiographical, but not really confessional. There are also poems about his father much later in life when he (the father) was dying of prostate cancer. Marchant has done a beautiful job of delineating this complicated relationship. He's able to write honestly about his father, but in the end, with a largeness of spirit you'd have to call forgiveness.

Now the wind sounds out clearly
and says this is the mountain
of forgiveness, and hat the work
will be to traverse the empty spaces
with meaning.

from "The Afterlife on Squaw Peak"

In between are wartime poems and, actually, several poems with lovely descriptions of the natural world. I'm not a nature-poem kind of girl, but I could appreciate these.

A long poem set on Okinawa, 1970, took my breath away for a couple of seconds. I lived on Okinawa in 1970. So long ago, but whenever I think of it, I can still feel the atmosphere, the strangeness. And I can smell it. My most vivid memories seem to be permeated with both exotic and repellent odors. It made me shiver to read this. And I too have swum in the East China Sea. Marchant was a Marine lieutenant, before being honorably discharged as a conscientious objector. I was married to an Army private. But we were there on the island at the same time.

The book as a physical object pleased me, too. I like the thick cream paper and attractive font (that's not too small!).

I can't find any of these poems available online, though some poems from his other collections can be found at The Poetry Foundation website and the Frank Olson Legacy Project site.

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tipping Point by Fred Marchant is a collection of poetry broken down into five parts and published by Word Works after winning the 1993 Washington Prize. Readers may wonder what a former Marine Corps Lieutenant and one of the first honorably discharged conscientious objectors would have to say about the Vietnam War, especially having only served two years. This collection is a journey through the memories of childhood, adulthood, and military service, and beyond.

From Vietnam Era:

“. . . The papers
you heaved you imagined
grenades, and that the porches they
landed on the burst into flame,” (page 21)

Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2010/11/t...

[Joshua Gay · Rating 5 out of 5]

With few words, Marchant generously shares vivid scenes from the first half of his life. Individually the poems, while beautiful and powerful, are at times uncomfortable or even painful. However, as a collection, the narrator's constant turning-over of dilemma creates a sense that the narrator has strength -- the strength to let go as well as the strength to have resolve -- which provides an odd sort of comfort for the reader. This is a book of poetry worth reading and worth reading again later.

[Stephan Anstey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fred's poetry is beautiful, gut wrenching and important. This first-hand experiential poetry brings the audience into those moments and helps them understand what it was to be there in the mind of a marine.

[Ruth Behrsing]

karen

[MaryFrances · Rating 3 out of 5]

also a book club book. Very interesting topic I thought. He is extremely repetative but I loved the chapter on children's television.

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got me through two Ryan Air flights. And I think one of the main messages was that smoking in high school is cool ;)

[Juanita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful.Enjoyed his theories.

[Gerry LaFemina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully composed lyric poems that span the late twentieth century, and that engage the personal and the political, the body and the heart, the body and the soul.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book that made me question many assumptions. I hope to use what I learned to tip a few things!

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars