by Carol Smallwood
Publisher: Finishing Line Press, 2017,
$18.99 [paper]
ISNB 978-1635342338
85 pp.
Formerly published in Ragazine, http://ragzine.cc; Scarlet Leaf Review, https://www.scarletleafreview.com; Mom Egg Review, http://momeggreview.com
Reviewed by Judith Skillman
Carol
Smallwood’s new collection, Prisms Particles, and Refractions, is at once
playful and serious. Her work in this volume ranges from extremely concise
poems such as “On Days of Slow Rain” where the speaker becomes “a child again /
longing to read / darkened tree bark/like Braille” (53) to the four-page oeuvre
written in journal form, “A Late Summer Diary.” The fact that these two poems
are neighbors makes the transition between short and long more emphatic, and
creates echoes and resonances.
As
Smallwood deftly moves through a variety of content and subject matter, the
reader gets a sense of an unpredictable world, despite the anchor of a wealth
of scientific evidence to the contrary. Facts are posited, yet not accepted as
givens. For instance, in “We See,” the persona examines exactly how we do see
and absorb light, and questions knowledge imparted during college years. Here,
the title becomes the first line: “We See / with rods and cones I learned / in
college—it may not be true/today…” (13). As this poem deepens, mirrors, faces,
and sacrifice come into play, as well as the automatic adjustment made by the
retina from upside down to right side up. This piece is emblematic of
Smallwood’s gift—focused examinations that lead to “aha” moments for both
writer and reader.
The
poems in this book have been published in many journals. Clearly the art of
poetry is one Ms. Smallwood has lived and learned. Her forms range from
cinquain to villanelle to sestina; she switches from formal to free verse with
ease. The myriad references and allusions in these poems draw from philosophy,
psychology, physics, metaphysics, history, and literature.
“A
Prufrock Measurement” (74) employs playfulness and formal rhyme in order to
merge two vastly different subjects—contemporary fast food proliferation with
the persona of Eliot’s Prufrock. This willingness to draw from disparate
sources creates a prismatic effect: varied and brilliant. In the introduction,
Smallwood states her intention to present poems “aimed at capturing…aspects of
light…and light as metaphor.” It is this reviewer’s sense that she has
succeeded.
MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Judith
Skillman’s recent book is Kafka’s Shadow, Deerbrook Editions. Her work has
appeared in LitMag, Shenandoah, Zyzzyva, FIELD, and elsewhere. Awards include
an Eric Mathieu King Fund grant from the Academy of American Poets. She is a
faculty member at the Richard Hugo House in Seattle, Washington. Visit www.judithskillman.com
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