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Steve O'Connor, Caterwaul from Below: selected poems 2005-2008
This
chapbook collects a variety of O'Connor's poetry from the past few
years and superimposes them over photographs by Doug Reilly. There are
three general types of poems here: the ones on women, which tend to be
happy memories of sexual encounters (or near misses); youth and the
distance age gives us from it (with new perspectives on parties with
bongs, strip pokers, friends, the strange paths life offers us and much
more); and, finally, the state of modern life today- viewed here
through a slightly caustic punk's eye.
Some of the poems
explore what is quintessentially American in my view: baseball games
with family and friends, conversations that last all night in diners or
fields, fueled by joints or coffee, bike rides and walks through
grid-like cities, college parties that are the same all over North
America. Doug Reilly's photos show the bare landscape of America's
dilapidated side: inner city buildings, telephone wires, spaces empty
of people.
These poems are deceptively short and paired down.
Some catch you straight away and some need to be revisited a few times
before they sink in. One or two may not have enough punching power to
knock you over, but if you are willing to stick with them, peeling each
layer away like an artichoke, you'll find something in the end which
I'm sure O'Connor will be more than glad to cook for you.
review located here