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Review of poetry collection
Fairy Tales and Misdemeanors by Jennifer Matthews 2003. 39pp Ibbetson Street Press 25 School St. Somerville, Mass. 02143. $5 homepage.mac.com/rconte
reviewed by Hugh Fox
Although she's originally from New Jersey, Matthews has been living in the Boston area for the last five years, and has become part and parcel of the poetry scene in Boston and Somerville, maybe the most alive poetry scene in the whole U.S. these days. Singer and Poet, the on-stage quality of her works show, even on the page. She's not Ms. Professora-Library, reeking of Eliotesque and Poundian overtones, but right on the beat, man, right between the eyes: " I had a dream I was soft as a willow/ moving inside the breeze/ the sunset coming over the water/ felt like heaven to me." ( Heaven To Me, p. 10)
Of course that's the thing about Somerville and Stone Soup Poetry reading center, and Ibbetson Street Press literary events... you feel you're back in the 60's again, the optimism, the impressionistic raining in of nature on you, a total expansion of the magic Now.
Talking about the impressionistic raining in of nature, how about " A Rapture in the Rain:" ...a bird,/ a grace/ a turn/ among/ the sane/ a rapture in the rain..." ( p.22)
Two stories in the book that pull you right through them, especially the fairytailish " Girl and Elf" which is about a kind of tug-of-war between magic ( The Elf) and Science/ Rationalism ( Abigail Rose)
Matthews is on the side of magic. The message is strong---step in the Now,
and be, be, be...
A book not to miss, especially if you are looking for an uplift, a little trip into the accessible visionary.
Hugh Fox is a retired professor from the Univ. of Michigan/ Lansing. He is a regular contributor to the Ibbetson Update and the Small Press Review. Hughfox8.aol.com. Contact author for reprint. |
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