Susan Lewis’s How to Be Another

I love Susan Lewis’s new collection, How to Be Another from Cervena Barva Press. It is even more well-crafted, interesting and eccentric than Lewis’s other collections. I appreciated the protagonist becoming even more transparent; the story-like quality of these poems; the stronger narrative that exists compared to Lewis’s other books. In fact, in one of the first poems, “Forgive Me,” the narrator says, “Stay with me now, I am working on the courage to tell you something new, no matter how frightening or untrue” which I think is the perfect sentiment in which to frame this book. As the protagonist says in the poem “Sometimes” she wants to invent a new language for herself, a language which I am inspired by. 

As usual, Lewis utilizes the same clever language, ironic humor, rhyme, rhythm, and puns that appeared in her other collections, but How to Be Another seems softer somehow, easier for the reader to relate to. The opening poem, “Dig,” especially struck a chord with me because the narrator spoke about her desire to navigate and come to terms with her current relationship and have a daughter, which I think is something so many people can relate to, myself included: ”If only I had a daughter, she would no doubt cheer me on.” I am certainly cheering Susan Lewis on as she continues to write and create such beautiful work. In the poem “Say Something” the poet asks her readers to “Just promise to listen.” And I am. The vivid descriptions reminded me sometimes of Margaret Atwood’s stories, (which is a great achievement, to be sure) and this is definitely my favorite collection by Lewis that I have read.  

Susan Lewis's This Visit

I see many parallels between Susan Lewis’s This Visit and State of the Union, another book by Lewis that I read a few weeks ago. There is plenty of sharp and clever word play and rhyme. I also see a lot of influence coming from the school of Language Poetry and its poets. There is a distinct commentary on language itself, as the first poem in the collection, “My Life In Dogs”, has “language languishing.” For this and other reasons, This Visit reminded me of Charles Alexander’s book Pushing Water, which I reviewed in March of last year.

Many of the same themes are addressed in This Visit, as were addressed in State of the Union: there seemed to be a slight political bent, as well as a focus on the human condition, and even God and morality, in lines like,

They too must age, decay

& slowly quieten.

& can only live

more or less. & choose,

more or less.

& search furtively or not

for the nonexistent exit.

Later, “the grenade of your despair” is paired with doll heads littered on the floor, which is certainly an image that sticks with the reader.  

The main difference I saw between This Visit and State of the Union is the way the poems were arranged on the page. In This Visit, the poems are allowed more space for the poems themselves and their readers to breathe on the page. White space is a powerful tool that Lewis utilizes well here.

As usual, I was left with a few important, worthwhile questions that I will take with me, including, but not limited to: If there is a narrative thread here, what is it? What in the text anchors its readers? Who exists in the address circuit? What do the italics signify? And the parenthesis? The speaker here seems distant, almost muted sometimes in what she wants to say. Who is doing the muting? What is being left out, and how does that play into what we are able to decipher? What about the love story that exists here is being left untold? For this and other reasons I saw some similarities in voice and style with Dickinson, which is quite the achievement.

In the poem “My Life in Microbes” the speaker says, “In which the heart of/the endeavor/is the/endeavor” which I think is an apt description of the book itself. Congratulations to Susan Lewis for this thought provoking book. You can find out more about her here.

Kristina Marie Darling’s The Sun & the Moon

Kristina Marie Darling’s new poetry collection, The Sun & the Moon, from BlazeVOX [books] is as smooth and well-crafted as the flowers that so often appear in Darling’s poems. The book is separated into four sections: the main narrative, illustrations of various astronomical clocks—probably because of the many stars that appear in the text—erasures of the main narrative, and “Notes and Observations.”   

Though Darling employed many of the same images and techniques as in other books, (such as erasure) The Sun & the Moon was different because there was so much more of a dreamlike narrative bent to the poems than in previous collections such as Fortress or Night Songs. This made for an interesting and welcomed change. I’m glad to see Darling expand her horizons. The book tells of a married couple whose house is taken over by “an endless train of ghosts” and burned.

I believe the ghosts represented the couple’s troubled marriage. In fact, the husband leaves the house by the end of the book, leaving the protagonist as the only human occupant in the house. What I found peculiar is that the ghosts and the husband did similar things, such as carry stars around with them. Also, the husband did fantastic, surreal things: “The tablecloth was burning & still you just sat there, stroking that enormous fire.” I wonder, since there were such similarities between the man and the ghosts, was the man a ghost too? Is that how the protagonist saw him? As always, provocative questions like these appear in all of Darlings poems.

There were also parallels to Darlings other book Fortress, mainly the focus on domestic life, and the structure of a house as a trope to symbolize the union between the man and the woman in the story. 

Also, the preoccupation with household objects that the ghosts rummage through: locks on the gate, silverware, clothing, etc. reminded me quite a bit of Kristy Bowen’s work, another poet I admire, and a poet who was published by Darling’s press, Noctuary Press.

I wonder if this is much of a coincidence or if we all borrow each other’s voices from time to time. I know I do this in my poetry, become strongly inspired by another poet’s work, so that it bleeds into my work a bit. I know Kristina Marie Darling informs my work a lot of the time. I urge you to find out more about Darling here, and purchase a copy of The Sun & the Moon.