Hello Misfits!
I’m Phoenix, your friendly Island poetry reviewer. Long story short, I’m a college student, new godfather, LGBT activist, writer and fellow Misfit, who also happens to be friends with Diamant. I aim to post a poetry review on the 13th of each month, so if you have any you’d like to see featured here, please send it in!
I’m Phoenix, your friendly Island poetry reviewer. Long story short, I’m a college student, new godfather, LGBT activist, writer and fellow Misfit, who also happens to be friends with Diamant. I aim to post a poetry review on the 13th of each month, so if you have any you’d like to see featured here, please send it in!
We have a special author spotlight tonight, another of my
good friends, Walter Beck. Walter was
actually the person who gave the idea for us to do poetry reviews, in addition
to the book reviews, so his latest release is up first! Being friends with Walter, I’m admitting my
bias up front, but would also like to state that I originally contacted Walter
because of his powerful poetry and political activism. Our brotherhood grew organically from that
soil of mutual interest. So, without
further ado, I bring you our first poetry review:
Beck’s latest release is notable from start to finish. Akin to a double EP, it’s two separate
releases married together into one. I feel
the whole thing paints a dichotomy of struggle vs. calm.
The struggle “album”, titled High Ground Valley Flashback: The Early Days, features a cover depicting a
dizzying, twisted, backwards photomanipulation of Beck; “We die young” scrawled
across his chest in blood*, as he has been known to perform his works live in
Indiana. He describes this FourPlay as a
collection of remixes of early works. I
describe it as “struggle” because I notice a unifying theme throughout,
expressed as yells, shouts, sharp scents, battered, shirtless, still-bleeding
scars of weary young warriors who take orders and march through the trenches of
war, to claw and fight with heat. All of
these descriptors taken from this collection and remixed by me into the meaning
I find in his words. Whether that is the
intended meaning or not, we may have to wait for an interview to find out.
These four poems use some great visualization and
alliteration to present power struggle in a variety of forms, cultural warfare
within the confines of a single, brick walkway and the mental worlds we escape
to in order to make soul-numbing work bearable.
My favorite, however, is the “No Bad Publicity” Mix of Letter. In what I’ve come to know as typical Walter
fashion, he jauntily throws up his middle finger to those who would censor and
sanitize his art, while priding themselves on so called “multiculturalism” and “diversity”. I’m pretty certain that this speaks to Beck’s
real-life experience, but it leaves me wondering how much is real and how much
is poetic license. An added bonus at the
end of High Ground Valley Flashback is a photo of the writer in his natural
habitat.
If you flip the book over, you find a print of an amazing
painting our own, talented Jordan Diamant created of Walter. I prefer this “album”, On the Midnight Stage,
to the other. Perhaps because this is an
uncommon departure from Beck’s usual beautifully illustrated harshness and
political frustrations into the land of love and romance. The fashion of this album is that of calm, accentuated
with human connection, sewn up with a thread of nature elements into one, big
comfy pillow.
My favorite of this bunch, and the entire double EP, is
Thawing Picture Frames. Juxtaposing
memories with newness, we find the poet transitioning from simple acts of love
into true Eros. This piece plays right
into my heart, with things I personally find comforting. I have my own bittersweet memories of new
skin in badly ventilated, smoke-filled rooms, creaky gates in the summer sun,
freaks playing beneath the midnight moon and the nostalgia of the photos that
came before the popularity of digital cameras and smart phones.
When you put these two “albums” together as a whole, Beck
takes you on a road trip from work life and dark hallways to embracing the raw essence
of living in the moment and taking a rest stop to renew your spirit in hidden
secrets, before journeying back to the norm.
You can purchase this compilation for $2 in the FourPlay
section of the Writing Knights Press
store and you can introduce yourself to Walter on facebook.
*No cute, fluffy animals, humans or otherwise were harmed in
the depiction of this poetry… or were
they…
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