Poems from the Left Bank: Somerville, Mass. by Doug Holder was reviewed by Irene Koronas (we love her!) for the Wilderness House Literary Review:---
Review:
Poems From The Left Bank: Somerville, Mass.
Doug Holder
2010 Propaganda Press
$5.00 [plus $2 US shipping; $4 out-of-US shipping
alt-current.com]
Doug Holder's sense of humor is refreshing in this politically[-]correct-up-tight-consumer-society. Holder doesn't buy into the pre-packaged-cherry tomatoes, "with leafy laminated balls of Romaine." The poems come from the city of Somerville, Mass., which still has pockets of working class folks, vaudeville expressions, and the student[s'] bawdy release on weekends. Holder, a master craftsman, observes the mundane with poetic intelligence:
The close habitation of sunlight and brooding shadow,
The incestuous tangle of backyards
The sudden eruption of a hill…
[from HAMLET ST., SOMERVILLE]
Every poem in this collection widens our experience because of his ability to contain what is an apparent situation or the reality therein of any given situation. And the humor he interjects in some of the poems becomes a place for the reader to finally relax and laugh. These poems show us, the reader, who we are, where we live, who we have become. We reacquaint ourselves with the everyday people we pass by; people and places, as an actuality, not just the someone who is part of the crowd. Holder has the ability to pick out a scene, and then depict the actions related to those people, [...] within the context of their private settings, urban reality, concrete walks, brick and wooden structures that may induce a reluctance on our part to notice anything or some of the happenings related to the everyday people. Holder sees people, places, and things, in a non-judgmental way, he gives us a glimpse, an opportunity to meet one another:
He turned his face toward me --
A smiling mouth
That had turned cruel
Still with the fleshy
Flushed cheeks
of a choirboy.
[from FALLEN CHERUB OUTSIDE A LIQUOR STORE]
I recommend this chapbook to everyone and anyone who wants to read good writing. Don't pass this book [by].
End of Review
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