Two Miles West

ISBN-13: 9781936671304 / Angielski / Miękka / 2015 / 112 str.

Gary Lee Entsminger

Opis

In TWO MILES WEST, imagination, memory, and dream entwine to create voices that leap metaphysical boundaries. Entsminger asks us to suppose "a time space lattice / imposed by a mind / composing images." In the realm of poetry, where an image in the mind's eye is as alive as a warm body, he explores the nature of knowledge. Endearing characters dance to the beat: Carisha in tawny hay fields, shirtless rain-soaked boys, a wanna-be western outlaw, pelicans disguised as lady's slippers, Bach composing on a supernatural plane, a gangling bald Russian professor, and a three-year-old boy's vision of Grandma "in full-cut apron / hugging her wide hips / canvas shoes to ease / sore feet smell of / onions and fried potatoes." Individuals try to connect: faces trapped in wood grains, "toes wiggle out to dance / teasing his stockings / bringing his fleet full stop / he lights a smile," young men following a trail round the hillside, a friend they pick up in a bar pushing "imaginary buttons / that fumble under fingers," and persistent Handpick & McQ musing on life, war, and women, parading down the highway. Like the feathery swaying bamboo in his Henry Evans tribute, Entsminger has a light and loving touch that reaches for a world and a human potential he believes in. "the sun eases / into a cloud lake / and cools / I walk on" The troubadour sings a love song. "A striking freshness, lyricism, and originality of voices-imagination and a sense of time and place characterize TWO MILES WEST. This uncommon first book of poetry has been seasoned by years of thought and experience. 'At night I pull the one runner curtain back / and look out the porch caves into ruined couch / below unshingled casts from lamplight.' You will be rewarded when you step into his light."-Michael Miller, author of LIFELINES "The debut collection of a poet as remarkable for his offbeat humor and Virginia down-homeness as for his hip urbanity: his love of jazz, qi, and an ideal world without fences. Among the many triumphs in this collection is Entsminger's invention of a noir Steve McQueenish-slash-Jack Kerouackian character named McQ. Some killer poems: 'Hazing, ' 'Fallen, ' 'Wind and Bamboo, ' and the magnificent piece de resistance, 'Old Bach.' Every day Entsminger, a Coloradan, looks out on views of evergreen meadows and snowcapped peaks. The scope of this book goes way beyond 'two miles west' "-James Reiss, author of RIFF ON SIX: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS