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asgunnell's review
4.0
One of my favorite books of poetry. I love the villanelle form, and Jared Carter does it well. His work flows effortlessly.
xterminal's review
4.0
Jared Carter, Les Barricades Mysterieuses (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 1999)
Earlier this month, I read Jared Carter's second book, Pincushion's Strawberry, and I have to say that overall I wasn't entirely impressed with it. Well, fifteen years went by between Carter's second and his third, Les Barricades Mysterieuses, and it seems that Carter spent those intervening years learning to write a really, really good formal poem.
Villanelles are one of those odd strict forms where the highest praise one can give a poet is that the reader forgets he's reading a strict form. It's even tougher when the poet adheres to the traditional rules of the form (especially with villanelles, poets like to bend the rules a good deal now and again). But, as the jacket blurbs mention, Carter does manage it, and quite nicely. The selected-at-random quote I use in most poetry reviews doesn't even begin to hint at the subtlety, actually; I liked this poem for its subject far more than its use of the language:
"Come together at last, no longer strangers,
Braceleted with numbers, stripped of names,
asleep and drifting in these still waters,
they share a timeless urge--to be forever
lost in each other's arms, having no shame,
come together at last. No longer strangers,
they touch in casual ways we half-remember--
moored in the twilight, tethered by a chain,
asleep and drifting..."
("Tankroom")
Jared Carter has made it, folks. If you're a poetry fan, and especially if you're a fan of formal poetry, I highly recommend checking out Les Barricades Mysterieuses; good stuff indeed. *** ½
Earlier this month, I read Jared Carter's second book, Pincushion's Strawberry, and I have to say that overall I wasn't entirely impressed with it. Well, fifteen years went by between Carter's second and his third, Les Barricades Mysterieuses, and it seems that Carter spent those intervening years learning to write a really, really good formal poem.
Villanelles are one of those odd strict forms where the highest praise one can give a poet is that the reader forgets he's reading a strict form. It's even tougher when the poet adheres to the traditional rules of the form (especially with villanelles, poets like to bend the rules a good deal now and again). But, as the jacket blurbs mention, Carter does manage it, and quite nicely. The selected-at-random quote I use in most poetry reviews doesn't even begin to hint at the subtlety, actually; I liked this poem for its subject far more than its use of the language:
"Come together at last, no longer strangers,
Braceleted with numbers, stripped of names,
asleep and drifting in these still waters,
they share a timeless urge--to be forever
lost in each other's arms, having no shame,
come together at last. No longer strangers,
they touch in casual ways we half-remember--
moored in the twilight, tethered by a chain,
asleep and drifting..."
("Tankroom")
Jared Carter has made it, folks. If you're a poetry fan, and especially if you're a fan of formal poetry, I highly recommend checking out Les Barricades Mysterieuses; good stuff indeed. *** ½
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