Review from the ‘Dave Poems’ Blog (I think he likes me…)

Dave Coates takes a pretty lengthy and critical look at The Book. Dave is super generous but also rightly calls me to task for a) writing a pantoum and b) at times allowing a ‘faux folksy’ tone to creep in. Anyway, as ‘the poet’ I felt it a well-written piece that, as perhaps a good review should do, taught me a little something about my own work.  Here’s a couple of quotes.

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First, one that could be pulled to sound ‘negative’: ‘“My 100-Year-Old Ghost”, “Gasoline”, “They Will Go On”, “Oregon Trail” and “Bluegrass” have a degree of faux folksiness (fauxsiness) to them which is initially off-putting. Ryan’s appreciation for Bruce Springsteen is well-documented and his influence is occasionally tangible (‘Griswold  says // they ain’t gonna raise his pay’; ‘“Gonna storm,” [Martha] says.’ Oof).‘ …. read more…

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And one quote which is wonderfully complementary and illustrates Dave’s astuteness as a reader and articulateness as a critic, ‘One of Ryan’s strengths is that (all aboard the jargon express) where his grammatical syntax is simple, his syntax of imagery is allusive, instinctive and complex. The first section is a delightfully f’d-up piece about pubescent sexual deviance that captures a simultaneous feeling of decay and blossoming, something wholesomely clandestine, ‘I was so happy, I took it all; her arms sweating / like horses. My father and sister never knew / but in that house noise always dried like palm.’ Placing this story beside the subsequent evidence of his father’s sexual waywardness puts both in a light that could not have been achieved otherwise.’ …. read more…