A review of Beatman's poetry collection. * published in the Somerville Journal.

Ladies Night at the Blue Hill Spa. Lisa Beatman. (Bear House Publishing 180 Mt. Hope St. Roslindale, Ma. 02131) $9.95

Lisa Beatman's poetry reminds me of another Mass. Cultural Council Award winner, Charles Coe. Both Cole and Beatman's work is accessible but layered with meaning. Their poetry has an ample dose of levity, and at the same time it is wise and knowing. I like the conceit of Beatman's Spa poems. As a kid my grandfather would drag me along to a "schvitz," Yiddish for "to sweat" Here old Jewish men would be in a steam bath, naked as jaybirds, sweating, praying, swimming, and kibbitzing. The sight of all these old men in the buff was frightening to me. But still it held a fascination, and even provided a sort of comfort or balm. I was involved in a community ritual. A communal bonding took place; a sort of sweaty oral tradition took hold. Behold, the title poem, "Ladies Night at the Blue Hill Spa," " Swathed in steam and terrycloth/ the ladies slump, belly and bone/concave and pendulous/against the cedar planks/.../ the ladies stretch and sweat/ toddler glad in their played out bodies.../ Here is heat, and ease and respite/while winter hangs/on a hook outside." I loved the simple acceptance of the "played out bodies," the freedom to slump, to let it hang "down" so to speak. Beatman describes a sweaty catharsis with a gimlet reporter's eye and a poet's heart. Being a Cancer myself( if you go for that sort of thing) I found "Home Suite Home" a poem that you could hang your hat on. Here the poet skillfully describes her little hole-in-the- wall apartment through the sensibility of a daughter and a dad:

" to a father's eye
this wouldn't seem much
a kennel, a cage...
but the eyes of a woman
with love in her heart
cast a kindly light...
note the wind chimes that scatter
their pure bell-like sound
and the Irises pushing
up through the ground.

All of this is good stuff. If that ain't enough the production values of this book are excellent too. What can I say...buy this book!

Doug Holder Ibbetson Update Somerville, Ma. July 2002