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xterminal's review
5.0
Gary Fincke, The Almanac for Desire (BkMk Press, 2000)
Ah, Gary Fincke, how I do love your poetry. And of the books of Fincke's poetry I've read over the last couple of years, The Almanac for Desire is probably the strongest of them. Introspective, filled with a gentle, self-deprecating humor, poetic without being academic (in the sense of “erudite beyond the vocabularies of normal readers”), Fincke's poetry has the kind of straightforward beauty one might expect from a more sensitive James Dickey or a less nature-obsessed Hayden Carruth.
“Here, this morning, I'm shown the sealed drawers
of the monument where a part
of my family lies hidden an inch
from the sun, avoiding the grave
and the slab of the mausoleum.
A dozen names, not ours, fill three sides
of the squared base, all of them etched
like the memories of those who record
everything the know on floppy discs for
the repository of transcribed souls.
(“The Repository of Transcribed Souls”)
Fantastic book that's flirting with inclusion in my Best Reads of the Year list. If you're not familiar with Fincke, this is a great place to start (or, if you're poetry-phobic, pick up his “musical memoir” Amp'd: A Father's Backstage Pass). **** ½
Ah, Gary Fincke, how I do love your poetry. And of the books of Fincke's poetry I've read over the last couple of years, The Almanac for Desire is probably the strongest of them. Introspective, filled with a gentle, self-deprecating humor, poetic without being academic (in the sense of “erudite beyond the vocabularies of normal readers”), Fincke's poetry has the kind of straightforward beauty one might expect from a more sensitive James Dickey or a less nature-obsessed Hayden Carruth.
“Here, this morning, I'm shown the sealed drawers
of the monument where a part
of my family lies hidden an inch
from the sun, avoiding the grave
and the slab of the mausoleum.
A dozen names, not ours, fill three sides
of the squared base, all of them etched
like the memories of those who record
everything the know on floppy discs for
the repository of transcribed souls.
(“The Repository of Transcribed Souls”)
Fantastic book that's flirting with inclusion in my Best Reads of the Year list. If you're not familiar with Fincke, this is a great place to start (or, if you're poetry-phobic, pick up his “musical memoir” Amp'd: A Father's Backstage Pass). **** ½
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