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A review by mary_soon_lee
Stairs Appear in a Hole Outside of Town by John Philip Johnson
4.0
This book takes five poems by John Philip Johnson and presents them as graphic stories, illustrated by different artists. This is a marvelous idea for making poetry entertaining to a larger audience. That said, I myself am comic-book-challenged. I enjoy Garfield comics and Peanuts, but not, say, Neil Gaiman's graphic books, even though I have loved several of Gaiman's novels. So I will not attempt to comment on the artwork.
The poems are largely excellent, though I am zombie-impaired as well as comic-book-challenged. I don't recall ever having liked a zombie piece, and the zombie poem in this book, "You are Horror and Light," didn't appeal to me.
My favorite poem here is "After the Changeling Incantation," which I loved in its entirety, but especially the phrase "filling your wings with sky" and the closing lines. This is a wise, wonderful, wondrous poem, evoking character and situation, and the larger story behind them.
I also loved the surreal title poem, "Stairs Appear in a Hole Outside of Town." The poem leads the reader down the stairs with it, from the specific commonplace details near the start, down to a stranger, larger place. The ending is powerful and perfect.
John Philip Johnson has mastered endings. I found the first three quarters of the short poem "The Secret Edge of the World" fine, but the ending was more than fine. It was excellent.
A great concept for a book, with great poetry in it.
The poems are largely excellent, though I am zombie-impaired as well as comic-book-challenged. I don't recall ever having liked a zombie piece, and the zombie poem in this book, "You are Horror and Light," didn't appeal to me.
My favorite poem here is "After the Changeling Incantation," which I loved in its entirety, but especially the phrase "filling your wings with sky" and the closing lines. This is a wise, wonderful, wondrous poem, evoking character and situation, and the larger story behind them.
I also loved the surreal title poem, "Stairs Appear in a Hole Outside of Town." The poem leads the reader down the stairs with it, from the specific commonplace details near the start, down to a stranger, larger place. The ending is powerful and perfect.
John Philip Johnson has mastered endings. I found the first three quarters of the short poem "The Secret Edge of the World" fine, but the ending was more than fine. It was excellent.
A great concept for a book, with great poetry in it.