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Some SF, Some S
Oct. 25th, 2024 05:40 pmMatt Bialer, 2014, TELL THEM WHAT I SAW, A POETRY COLLECTION COLLECTION, STANZA POETRY #10, 169 pages, ISBN 978-1-848636-98-9, Jacketed Hardcover, COVER BY Matthew Revert, Stanza Press, a division of PS publishing, Grosvenor House, 1 New Road, Hornsea, HU18 1PG, England, PS Publishing, www.pspublishing.co.uk, £15.00.
Most of the poems in this book use a common format, making liberal use of extra spaces among groups of words as a substitute for line breaks. This makes them look like prose, but they don't read like it. Instead, the result is a stream of consciousness feel, which goes very well with the subject matter covered. This, broadly stated, is poetry about how science, technology, and the supernatural affect the lives of ordinary people. Some of these poems are narratives about the history of science; the speculative element in these is minor. Other poems in Tell Them What I Saw are purely SF or fantasy. For instance, the one for which the book is named.
The book title comes from a short fantasy poem. It recounts a deathbed scene from the point of view of the person dying, but it ends before either death or revival, leaving the outcome unknown. The view of the near-death experience presented by this poem is nearly as mundane as they get (floating above the bed, seeing a bright light, etc.); it really isn't very interesting or satisfying. It does have a great title; and, despite the banal subject, is written well. It's easy to believe you are that dying man. Maybe that's why it was chosen to provide the title for the book.
I’m above the nurses station Laughter, tonight’s double date
At the Well My mind more clear Bright light everywhere
The doctor motions for the defibrillator paddles to shock me back
Tell Them What I Saw opens with a long science/history poem entitled "many worlds." This is a biography, in verse, of the physicist Hugh Everett III, author of the many-worlds hypothesis so important to SF. Not an SF poem at all, but a fascinating look at the father of parallel worlds. Typical of this volume, the poem is filled with the person of its subject and his family; it is an engaging biography, and very immediate. Other physicists had problems with the theoretical underpinnings of Everett's idea back in the day, and it's not generally accepted now. But oh, the possibilities!
for Hugh
The cat has split
Both alive and dead
Different universes
As the wave function evolves
Through time
It constantly splits off
New universe for each coordinate point
Some of the SF poems are straightforward extrapolations from the science we know. Here is a bit of “Dark Mission,” Bialer's take on the military-hiding-aliens trope. This time, structures on the moon:
My older son: Are there aliens on the Moon?
Rises behind fog, mist like a rubbing No, of course not
Can’t tell him I’ve seen the images—, Apollo, Lunar Orbiters,
Clementine Satellite Not the blur/smudge tampering for the public
Tiered, rectilinear structures Western edge, Sea of Tranquility—
The poem reminds me of a novel by Jack McDevitt that hangs on the same premise. It's a difficult thing to cover such a familiar topic well, and such a broad topic well, in a poem, but Bialer carries it off. Other poems cover “Crop circles” (aliens did it), memories from past lives (“Past Life;” it happens), Houdini, lost twins, aliens, demons, psychics, everything told in a matter-of-fact way, eerily enhancing the realism by bringing the wildest ideas down to earth.
These 47 poems are beautifully concise and emotionally powerful. I wish I'd written them. Funny thing. If you read the lit-crit reviews that came attached to the review copy of this book that I saw, you might have been completely turned off. The first review is by someone who might never have read another spec poem. I think everything the second reviewer said about Bialer's poetry is true, but the way he said it made me feel that I needed a degree just to proceed. Clearly, I'm not part of the publisher's target demographic. Fortunately, I needn't have worried. Tell Them What I Saw is a book every fan of spec poetry really should read, and will enjoy. This will be nominated for the Elgin.
Most of the poems in this book use a common format, making liberal use of extra spaces among groups of words as a substitute for line breaks. This makes them look like prose, but they don't read like it. Instead, the result is a stream of consciousness feel, which goes very well with the subject matter covered. This, broadly stated, is poetry about how science, technology, and the supernatural affect the lives of ordinary people. Some of these poems are narratives about the history of science; the speculative element in these is minor. Other poems in Tell Them What I Saw are purely SF or fantasy. For instance, the one for which the book is named.
The book title comes from a short fantasy poem. It recounts a deathbed scene from the point of view of the person dying, but it ends before either death or revival, leaving the outcome unknown. The view of the near-death experience presented by this poem is nearly as mundane as they get (floating above the bed, seeing a bright light, etc.); it really isn't very interesting or satisfying. It does have a great title; and, despite the banal subject, is written well. It's easy to believe you are that dying man. Maybe that's why it was chosen to provide the title for the book.
I’m above the nurses station Laughter, tonight’s double date
At the Well My mind more clear Bright light everywhere
The doctor motions for the defibrillator paddles to shock me back
Tell Them What I Saw opens with a long science/history poem entitled "many worlds." This is a biography, in verse, of the physicist Hugh Everett III, author of the many-worlds hypothesis so important to SF. Not an SF poem at all, but a fascinating look at the father of parallel worlds. Typical of this volume, the poem is filled with the person of its subject and his family; it is an engaging biography, and very immediate. Other physicists had problems with the theoretical underpinnings of Everett's idea back in the day, and it's not generally accepted now. But oh, the possibilities!
for Hugh
The cat has split
Both alive and dead
Different universes
As the wave function evolves
Through time
It constantly splits off
New universe for each coordinate point
Some of the SF poems are straightforward extrapolations from the science we know. Here is a bit of “Dark Mission,” Bialer's take on the military-hiding-aliens trope. This time, structures on the moon:
My older son: Are there aliens on the Moon?
Rises behind fog, mist like a rubbing No, of course not
Can’t tell him I’ve seen the images—, Apollo, Lunar Orbiters,
Clementine Satellite Not the blur/smudge tampering for the public
Tiered, rectilinear structures Western edge, Sea of Tranquility—
The poem reminds me of a novel by Jack McDevitt that hangs on the same premise. It's a difficult thing to cover such a familiar topic well, and such a broad topic well, in a poem, but Bialer carries it off. Other poems cover “Crop circles” (aliens did it), memories from past lives (“Past Life;” it happens), Houdini, lost twins, aliens, demons, psychics, everything told in a matter-of-fact way, eerily enhancing the realism by bringing the wildest ideas down to earth.
These 47 poems are beautifully concise and emotionally powerful. I wish I'd written them. Funny thing. If you read the lit-crit reviews that came attached to the review copy of this book that I saw, you might have been completely turned off. The first review is by someone who might never have read another spec poem. I think everything the second reviewer said about Bialer's poetry is true, but the way he said it made me feel that I needed a degree just to proceed. Clearly, I'm not part of the publisher's target demographic. Fortunately, I needn't have worried. Tell Them What I Saw is a book every fan of spec poetry really should read, and will enjoy. This will be nominated for the Elgin.
