Blogetary (Weblog + Commentary = Blogetary)

This Christmas a friend of mine gave me a chapbook written by someone she has taken writing classes from called The Order of Things (2005), by Sanora Bartels. I quite enjoyed some of the poetry and thought I would share a little review of it here on my blog. Most of the time when I do a review, I try to offer a picture and a link, but this is a chapbook so there’s no ISBN that I can find. I think you may need to contact the author directly to get a copy of her book so the links I have are to her blog and her writer’s group.

Instead of discussing all the poems, I will only touch upon the ones that struck me the most. Outside of the classroom dynamic of “critiquing a poem,” poetry is very personal and subjective. Past a certain level of craft (and yes, Bartels is professional), how one feels about a poem has to do more with one’s preferences and tastes.

The Order of Things is a (very) slim volume of poetry, about 5×8, a staple bound type. The cover painting and design are by Mark Neukom. The painting is a striking picture of a lone woman walking away whilst balancing in a tight rope. The rendering of the woman is very tightly drawn, but as the eye moves away from the central character, the picture gets fuzzy. While the subject of the picture is up in the air, so to speak, the background color of the cover is an earthy mustard, with the inner pages also being an earthy type.

The poetry and composition of the book are also as tightly focused on the central character, ostensibly the poet herself, as the picture is. If you’re a fellow writer, however, you understand that the self-character one draws upon when writing (especially in poetry) may or may not accurately reflect the author’s life. Emily Dickinson is a prime example. That being said, I do believe much of what is written is from Bartels’ personal experiences. That she is willing to bare bones to the glaring light of the writer’s pen is commendable.

The book is separated into four separate sections marked by Major Arcana in the Tarot: The Fool, The Lovers, The Hanged Man, The World. I thought these were interesting choices. The Fool is the very beginning of a journey. Starting out on the road, being full of energy, naivety, and hope. The Lovers can be anything from describing a relationship to describing grace and the choice between the divine and the mundane in one’s life. The Hanged Man – boy – the Hanged Man. Personally, I hate it when he shows up in my readings – waiting for the right time, waiting to learn the right lessons – painfully if you refuse to learn or less painfully if accept them. Then there’s The World. When everything comes together and wraps up and it’s the ending of one thing and the beginning of the rest of your journey – that is when you truly see The World. After thinking about the cards Bartels used to describe her poetry, I wondered what her poems could tell me.

The Fool

Two of the poems, “Elegy” and “Untouchable,” have appeared previously in Wordwrights! I found it intriguing that the first poem she begins this poetic journey with, “Elegy,” is an elegy to the end of someone’s life. But it is an elegy to someone who was there at the beginning of Bartels’ life. Here Bartels introduces the reader to the person who taught her to dream and to play and to love. I cried, remembering a similar person in my own life. In being willing to dig deep into a personal memory, Bartels was able to make this poem universal and it shows.

The next poem that struck home with me was “The Truth About Wolves.” I read it, and reread it and each time it made me snort – that being the only pithy response that instinctively came out at the revealing end of this poem based on Red Riding Hood. This was a clever look at that age-old tale.

The Lovers

Each of the poems in this section addresses a different aspect of love and sexuality. It was hard for me to read Lost and Found. It had that awkward adolescent feel of a first real sexual encounter. I wanted to look away and offer a robe to the character in the poem and at the same time read on, hoping she would find her comfort and fit in her own skin. But the poem that struck me the most was “Pete the Firefighter.” Raw, this poem addressed the near destructive nature of sexual attraction between some people. Shakespeare said that “brevity is the soul of wit” and this brief poem packs a power, raw punch.

The Hanged Man

It was difficult to wrap my brain around these poems. Then again, I have problems with The Hanged Man. So that’s not so unusual. The one I THINK I got the most was “Snow White’s Dream in Escrow.” Like many writers before her (and many after her) Bartels has tried to take the mythologies and legends that embed her psyche and reinterpret them for herself, as she did with “The Truth About Wolves.” In this poem, Bartels addresses Snow White’s desire and need for home, hearth, stability, in a 21st century need and desire for independence. It’s a dream we all have and sometimes it just stays a dream that we never quite reach.

The World

The volume of poetry begins in death and ends in more death. The poem I like best from this section is “She Wolf,” where it appears the author is able to find peace of a sort from the fierceness of city life by retreating further into the forest of herself. The words feel familiar and resonate as I repeat them to myself: “I ignore the urban pack; /I lie in a forest of felled words;/pulp condensed to page./My tongue perspires ink./Hungry,/I lick the marrow from the bones of words” (Bartels, “She Wolf,” The Order of Things (2005), p. 29).

As mentioned before, if you would like to read more by Sanora Bartels you can read her on her blog or contact her through the LA Writer’s Group.