You Can Scarcely See the Joint
Dec. 13th, 2024 01:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davidkmSnyder, Lucy A., 2009, Chimeric Machines, introduction by Tom Piccirilli, cover by Ursula Vernon, Creative Guy Publishing, www.creativeguypublishing.com, 85 p, perfect-bound pb, ISBN-10 1-894953-55-X; ISBN-13 978-1-894953-55-9, $10.95.
This small book contains three dozen poems. Most were previously published in various periodicals. . The book is divided into seven parts with titles like "Quiet places" and "Dark dreams." Some groups of poems are highly integrated (one set tells a single story from various perspectives), while others merely share themes.
Tom Piccirilli tries hard in the introduction to sell the book. I think most people who read the introductions to small-press books have already bought them. Still, Tom's clever prose provides excellent quotations for marketing, which is a traditional use of book introductions. Most people don't read introductions, anyway. I'm that way, but this one is entertaining. Don't skip it.
I really like the cover. I don't think it was painted for Chimeric Machines, but it's very appropriate (to the title). The machine in the illustration is made of parts that don't seem like they belong together: a skull, gears, wood (?), and more. It is a chimera: something cobbled together from disparate parts. The poems are not. These poems are not frankensteined out of mismatched bits. They are seamless wholes, moving windows into the mind of humanity. They are sharp and hard, but compassionate in their way. To end abuse one must first recognize it, and Chimeric Machines is halfway there. There is humor here, too, but chiefly there is intensity and piercing insight. These poems are mostly pretty short. Most fit on single pages. It doesn't take many words to make a point if you do it well.
One of my favorites is "Home for the holidays," a chilling poem that turns everything on its head at the end and makes you read it again. I also particularly like" Prometheus." I haven't seen the legend treated just this way before, which is one of the things I like about it. Let's just say that this version would not be printed in a book for children.
My pain's become an impure joy;
I wait for you on this windswept rock,
the granite and iron hard against my flesh.
My blood quickens when I hear your call.
From "Uncanny Valley Girl,"
Your polymer skin is smooth as bisque,
your eyes a ceruleun unseen in Nature.
Swains may recoil from servo whir and whisk,
the deus of your machina's my favorite feature.
Atypical in possessing both rhyme and meter, and also in its light tone, "Uncanny Valley Girl" is one of a few exceptions to this book's rule. A pause for breath, a shift in mood, and proof that Snyder's skill encompasses a greater breadth in form and tone than readers might think after reading the first few poems.
What else? The "Crete, Kentucky" poems combine to yield a harrowing look at a suffering family. "Dumb" is a dip inside academia's seamy side. Multiple layers of meaning, some turning on juxtaposition of title and text, some on line vs line alternative uses of versatile words, are the rule in these poems about cruelty, bad choices, bad luck, and harsh reality. It's not all grim. Humor, yes, and beauty too, in "Ocean," for example, in which a trip to the beach doesn't stop with the water. I enjoyed the diversity of this thin, themed book. I see a lot here. In fact, what I don't see are chimerae!
Although I can't understand why Snyder called this book chimeric that doesn't inhibit my appreciation of it. Aficionados of dark poetry and Snyder fans will be glad they snapped this one up.
This small book contains three dozen poems. Most were previously published in various periodicals. . The book is divided into seven parts with titles like "Quiet places" and "Dark dreams." Some groups of poems are highly integrated (one set tells a single story from various perspectives), while others merely share themes.
Tom Piccirilli tries hard in the introduction to sell the book. I think most people who read the introductions to small-press books have already bought them. Still, Tom's clever prose provides excellent quotations for marketing, which is a traditional use of book introductions. Most people don't read introductions, anyway. I'm that way, but this one is entertaining. Don't skip it.
I really like the cover. I don't think it was painted for Chimeric Machines, but it's very appropriate (to the title). The machine in the illustration is made of parts that don't seem like they belong together: a skull, gears, wood (?), and more. It is a chimera: something cobbled together from disparate parts. The poems are not. These poems are not frankensteined out of mismatched bits. They are seamless wholes, moving windows into the mind of humanity. They are sharp and hard, but compassionate in their way. To end abuse one must first recognize it, and Chimeric Machines is halfway there. There is humor here, too, but chiefly there is intensity and piercing insight. These poems are mostly pretty short. Most fit on single pages. It doesn't take many words to make a point if you do it well.
One of my favorites is "Home for the holidays," a chilling poem that turns everything on its head at the end and makes you read it again. I also particularly like" Prometheus." I haven't seen the legend treated just this way before, which is one of the things I like about it. Let's just say that this version would not be printed in a book for children.
My pain's become an impure joy;
I wait for you on this windswept rock,
the granite and iron hard against my flesh.
My blood quickens when I hear your call.
From "Uncanny Valley Girl,"
Your polymer skin is smooth as bisque,
your eyes a ceruleun unseen in Nature.
Swains may recoil from servo whir and whisk,
the deus of your machina's my favorite feature.
Atypical in possessing both rhyme and meter, and also in its light tone, "Uncanny Valley Girl" is one of a few exceptions to this book's rule. A pause for breath, a shift in mood, and proof that Snyder's skill encompasses a greater breadth in form and tone than readers might think after reading the first few poems.
What else? The "Crete, Kentucky" poems combine to yield a harrowing look at a suffering family. "Dumb" is a dip inside academia's seamy side. Multiple layers of meaning, some turning on juxtaposition of title and text, some on line vs line alternative uses of versatile words, are the rule in these poems about cruelty, bad choices, bad luck, and harsh reality. It's not all grim. Humor, yes, and beauty too, in "Ocean," for example, in which a trip to the beach doesn't stop with the water. I enjoyed the diversity of this thin, themed book. I see a lot here. In fact, what I don't see are chimerae!
Although I can't understand why Snyder called this book chimeric that doesn't inhibit my appreciation of it. Aficionados of dark poetry and Snyder fans will be glad they snapped this one up.
