This year is speeding by at quite the rapid pace. Before we know it, the weather will be cooler, and the Halloween decorations will be up. Unless of course you are like me and leave them up year-round. So, let’s take a moment to slow down, rest, and enjoy some poetry during National Poetry Month. Consider it a check point before you move on to the next event.
Death of the First Idea by Rickey Laurentiis is a work about when the self is in opposition to the world around it. Spanning history from ancient Greece to the Jim Crow era, to the current conflicts in the Middle East, Laurentiis shows that societies have a tendency to ostracize or even commit violence against those it may find undesirable. We live in a world that upholds individuality but only if that individual displays the preferred traits. She even reflects on her hometown of New Orleans and in the explorations, describes both the joyous and detrimental experiences she found there. With grace and wit, Laurentiis writes beautifully about how she faces a world that refuses to face her.
Cynthia Cheung’s work, Common Disaster, is an interesting look at the Covid-19 pandemic through the eyes of a physician. Cheung displays her feelings of watching those she was meant to heal, lose their lives in the sea of misinformation. She records how a devastating diagnosis can create a ripple effect, not just for the patient, but for their family as well. Though loss is an inevitable part of life, Cheung urges us towards remembrance. That through remembrance we can create space to honor those that came before and carry on their legacies. That life and grief are not exclusive to human beings but to the whole world we live on. She illustrates that in a world in which tragedy is an everyday occurrence, there still exists a thread that connects us all.
The latest work from Bianca Stone, The Near and Distant World, is a philosophical examination of the self. Much like the self, the work shows an immense range in styles and has the ability to be multifaceted. Stone shows how the self persists during global pandemics, wars, and the creation of life. In her quest for examination, Stone even delves into the inexactitude of language, how words can only get so close to the truth but never quite reach it. This is a deeply introspective work that allows the imperfections of the self to not just be displayed but celebrated.
Enjoy these works of poetry and maybe try to write some of your own this month!
–Ciara Lightner is a library specialist at A.K. Smiley Public Library.