Will Dockery wrote:
> General-Zod wrote:
>
> > To The Magic Store / Review by Rick Howe
>
> > http://pennyspoetry.wikia.com/wiki/To_the_Magic_Store_by_Will_Dockery
>
> > Will Dockery's New Poems
>
> > To The Magic Store, just released by Will Dockery, is a publication of
> > modest proportions, consisting of a cover illustration followed by seven
> > pages of poetry. At that, there is something aesthetically effective
> > about this simple minibook design. Having issued a series of similar
> > books over the last several years, the author undoubtedly has acquired a
> > certain proficiency with them. It is probably a question, since one is
> > not sure how else to explain it, of /fitting/ or /filling/ - yet not
> > overfilling - a book of this size with an appropriate amount of
> > material, such that one might experience in it a satisfying ampleness,
> > notwithstanding the smallness of its format; at the same time expression
> > must reach completion in the allotted number of pages, and not leave the
> > impression of having been aborted, or that necessary articulations were
> > left out. Judicious resort to ellipsis may indeed be helpful in this
> > regard only providing it does not signify impoverishment. (Which is not
> > the same thing, really.) It is indicative that the book proceeds at what
>
>
> > seems, at once, a comfortable, unhurried pace; at the same time it is
> > more than the negligible sort of labor which one might expect in the
> > everyday course of things to have done in fifteen minutes or so.
>
> > Style
>
> > In style and temperament, William Dockery's poetry is a little like that
> > of John Berryman - cf., The Dreamsongs. A basically sensitive but
> > slightly discombobulated awareness wending its way through hazes of
> > intoxication; the neighborhood milieu. [..when I was staying/ at the
> > boarding house/ across from the park,/ I hated those bells/ and I hated
>
>
> > that place./ At the same time I loved it. In essence the theme is
> > search for self. Now, self, in the way in which a poet like William
> > Dockery understands it, is essentially a myth; in other words, a kind of
> > story in which self is revealed and delineated to itself. In fact self
> > cannot appear except through the mediation of external places and
> > people. But the important thing is that these must be interpreted as
>
>
> > having transcendental implications which might not be apparent at the
> > level of quotidean experience. So this is what is meant by the poet
> > entering his neighborhood or social milieu in search of self. Myth of
> > origin [how self first learns to recognize itself]; golden age, debacle.
>
>
> > These are some of the typical mythic components in life. To keep this on
> > a simple, general level. Of course much subtler comprehensions are also
> > possible. For example, a typical mythification involves a division of
> > life into periods. When I lived on such-and-such street, life had a
> > certain quality; I had these experiences, was acquainted with these
> > people, et cetera. Then I moved somewhere else and it wasn't the same; a
> > period of life came to an end. Thus life may be seen as a succession of
> > /periods/ of greater or shorter duration; each more or less
> > distinguished by objective referents [dates, addresses, names of
> > people], each revealing distinctive mythological dimensions as well.
>
> > Content
>
> > In To The Magic Store the poet is viewing such a period retrospectively.
> > It is a Proustian /remembrance of things past/ in a way; things are
> > remembered together with their psychological associations, producing a
> > sensation of mythological awareness. (It is not necessary to spell it
> > out with elaborate detail. The point is simply to intuit how a set of
> > associated names and images creates the effect of milieu or era.)
> > Viewed retrospectively, there is of course an emphasis on dissolution.
> > People drift away, some die, and eventually the milieu dissolves. The
> > tone of the book is predominantly one of loss and mourning. In one case
> > the poet later revisits one of his main friends - the speed junkie
> > musician Hugo - and finds he'd been burned in a terrible disaster,/ in a
> > wheelchair and speechless. With its emphasis on the downside of the
> > cycle, To The Magic Store corresponds [mythically speaking] with a
> > decline and fall - maybe not of a /golden age/, since more or less there
> > is only one full-blown golden age in a lifetime, but of some lesser
> > epicycle which never the less exhibits analogous phases of flourishing
> > and decline. Curiously enough, there is no magic store explicitly
> > mentioned in this book. Given the preoccupation with loss and mortality,
> > a suitable title might have been To The Cemetery. Indeed, the climactic
> > verses tell of taking a girl to a graveyard - to see the grave of the
> > guy who died./ We sat there in this graveyard park,/ with a six-pack of
> > beer./ he looked fragile/ as she drunkenly cried./ She looked open/ to
> > my sensibility... But then, as the poem concludes: :I can still
> > remember :her laughing at my poetry :didn't feel so good to me :after
> > I'd been up all night :pouring out my feelings. :I thought she was
> > interesting, :she turned out :she was just a little female fool. :Was
> > not able to put all the components :of my life in place... :my mythology
> > was incomplete. But the title might have a different and more Proustian
> > meaning. The mythology of self, unfulfilled in initial experience [where
> > to be sure such mythologies inevitably represent inconclusive
> > aspirations], might be prolonged through acts of memory; where by poetic
> > magic they may be perfected and internalized - notwithstanding their
> > preliminary frustration in mere circumstances. Perhaps this might shed
> > some light on the mystic quality of a poem like The Ballad of James
> > Collier. A line like I hope some of them are left is perhaps best taken
> > at face value, that is, in its natural sense. Other parts of the poem
> > allude to ghostly reunions - perhaps in some transcendental world where
> > the past continues as a permanent reality - In tiny detail.
>
> > -Rick Howe, Topical Studies #5, January 1 1993. Used by permission.
>
> > I noted the article of this on PPP today, where you'd corrected the typo.
> > I went into your own article, and cut the review there down to the first
> > paragraph, adding a link to the "Magic Store" article at the end. I hope
> > that's OK; if not, of course, you can "Undo" it.
>
> > I'd like to add this one by Rick, a review of a poetry and art chapbook by
> > George Sulzbach:
>
> > https://web.archive.org/web/20170925073614/http://unitedfanzineorganization.weebly.com/uploads/4/5/6/0/4560933/topical4.pdf
>
> > Rick Howe's small press zine Topical Studies #4
>
> > Now that, my friends, is critique.
>
> > I sure miss old Rick Howe, we were room mates for a spell back around 1993 or 1994...!!!
> Again, good find.
>
> :)

Twas indeed, that's READ poetry critique...

On Saturday, February 10, 2024 at 2:01:11 PM UTC-5, Faraway Star wrote:
> Will Dockery wrote:
> > General-Zod wrote:
> >
> > > To The Magic Store / Review by Rick Howe
> >
> > > http://pennyspoetry.wikia.com/wiki/To_the_Magic_Store_by_Will_Dockery
> >
> > > Will Dockery's New Poems
> >
> > > To The Magic Store, just released by Will Dockery, is a publication of
> > > modest proportions, consisting of a cover illustration followed by seven
> > > pages of poetry. At that, there is something aesthetically effective
> > > about this simple minibook design. Having issued a series of similar
> > > books over the last several years, the author undoubtedly has acquired a
> > > certain proficiency with them. It is probably a question, since one is
> > > not sure how else to explain it, of /fitting/ or /filling/ - yet not
> > > overfilling - a book of this size with an appropriate amount of
> > > material, such that one might experience in it a satisfying ampleness,
> > > notwithstanding the smallness of its format; at the same time expression
> > > must reach completion in the allotted number of pages, and not leave the
> > > impression of having been aborted, or that necessary articulations were
> > > left out. Judicious resort to ellipsis may indeed be helpful in this
> > > regard only providing it does not signify impoverishment. (Which is not
> > > the same thing, really.) It is indicative that the book proceeds at what
> >
> >
> > > seems, at once, a comfortable, unhurried pace; at the same time it is
> > > more than the negligible sort of labor which one might expect in the
> > > everyday course of things to have done in fifteen minutes or so.
> >
> > > Style
> >
> > > In style and temperament, William Dockery's poetry is a little like that
> > > of John Berryman - cf., The Dreamsongs. A basically sensitive but
> > > slightly discombobulated awareness wending its way through hazes of
> > > intoxication; the neighborhood milieu. [..when I was staying/ at the
> > > boarding house/ across from the park,/ I hated those bells/ and I hated
> >
> >
> > > that place./ At the same time I loved it. In essence the theme is
> > > search for self. Now, self, in the way in which a poet like William
> > > Dockery understands it, is essentially a myth; in other words, a kind of
> > > story in which self is revealed and delineated to itself. In fact self
> > > cannot appear except through the mediation of external places and
> > > people. But the important thing is that these must be interpreted as
> >
> >
> > > having transcendental implications which might not be apparent at the
> > > level of quotidean experience. So this is what is meant by the poet
> > > entering his neighborhood or social milieu in search of self. Myth of
> > > origin [how self first learns to recognize itself]; golden age, debacle.
> >
> >
> > > These are some of the typical mythic components in life. To keep this on
> > > a simple, general level. Of course much subtler comprehensions are also
> > > possible. For example, a typical mythification involves a division of
> > > life into periods. When I lived on such-and-such street, life had a
> > > certain quality; I had these experiences, was acquainted with these
> > > people, et cetera. Then I moved somewhere else and it wasn't the same; a
> > > period of life came to an end. Thus life may be seen as a succession of
> > > /periods/ of greater or shorter duration; each more or less
> > > distinguished by objective referents [dates, addresses, names of
> > > people], each revealing distinctive mythological dimensions as well.
> >
> > > Content
> >
> > > In To The Magic Store the poet is viewing such a period retrospectively.
> > > It is a Proustian /remembrance of things past/ in a way; things are
> > > remembered together with their psychological associations, producing a
> > > sensation of mythological awareness. (It is not necessary to spell it
> > > out with elaborate detail. The point is simply to intuit how a set of
> > > associated names and images creates the effect of milieu or era.)
> > > Viewed retrospectively, there is of course an emphasis on dissolution..
> > > People drift away, some die, and eventually the milieu dissolves. The
> > > tone of the book is predominantly one of loss and mourning. In one case
> > > the poet later revisits one of his main friends - the speed junkie
> > > musician Hugo - and finds he'd been burned in a terrible disaster,/ in a
> > > wheelchair and speechless. With its emphasis on the downside of the
> > > cycle, To The Magic Store corresponds [mythically speaking] with a
> > > decline and fall - maybe not of a /golden age/, since more or less there
> > > is only one full-blown golden age in a lifetime, but of some lesser
> > > epicycle which never the less exhibits analogous phases of flourishing
> > > and decline. Curiously enough, there is no magic store explicitly
> > > mentioned in this book. Given the preoccupation with loss and mortality,
> > > a suitable title might have been To The Cemetery. Indeed, the climactic
> > > verses tell of taking a girl to a graveyard - to see the grave of the
> > > guy who died./ We sat there in this graveyard park,/ with a six-pack of
> > > beer./ he looked fragile/ as she drunkenly cried./ She looked open/ to
> > > my sensibility... But then, as the poem concludes: :I can still
> > > remember :her laughing at my poetry :didn't feel so good to me :after
> > > I'd been up all night :pouring out my feelings. :I thought she was
> > > interesting, :she turned out :she was just a little female fool. :Was
> > > not able to put all the components :of my life in place... :my mythology
> > > was incomplete. But the title might have a different and more Proustian
> > > meaning. The mythology of self, unfulfilled in initial experience [where
> > > to be sure such mythologies inevitably represent inconclusive
> > > aspirations], might be prolonged through acts of memory; where by poetic
> > > magic they may be perfected and internalized - notwithstanding their
> > > preliminary frustration in mere circumstances. Perhaps this might shed
> > > some light on the mystic quality of a poem like The Ballad of James
> > > Collier. A line like I hope some of them are left is perhaps best taken
> > > at face value, that is, in its natural sense. Other parts of the poem
> > > allude to ghostly reunions - perhaps in some transcendental world where
> > > the past continues as a permanent reality - In tiny detail.
> >
> > > -Rick Howe, Topical Studies #5, January 1 1993. Used by permission.
> >
> > > I noted the article of this on PPP today, where you'd corrected the typo.
> > > I went into your own article, and cut the review there down to the first
> > > paragraph, adding a link to the "Magic Store" article at the end. I hope
> > > that's OK; if not, of course, you can "Undo" it.
> >
> > > I'd like to add this one by Rick, a review of a poetry and art chapbook by
> > > George Sulzbach:
> >
> > > https://web.archive.org/web/20170925073614/http://unitedfanzineorganization.weebly.com/uploads/4/5/6/0/4560933/topical4.pdf
> >
> > > Rick Howe's small press zine Topical Studies #4
> >
> > > Now that, my friends, is critique.
> >
> > > I sure miss old Rick Howe, we were room mates for a spell back around 1993 or 1994...!!!
> > Again, good find.
> >
> > :)
> Twas indeed, that's READ poetry critique...

Good afternoon my friend, I hope you and Mike are having a great day so far..

:)