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Dave Malone’s “Under the Sycamore”

By Glynn Young 11 Comments

Under the sycamore

Quick: name a contemporary love poem.

Hard, right? In contemporary poetry, one doesn’t find much about love – the emotion, the feeling, the condition that is so characteristics of a considerable body of poetry from earliest times to the 20th century. Think Song of Solomon, the Greeks and Romans. Think of Boccaccio, the Elizabethans (those sonnets!) and the Cavalier poets, the Romantics and even the Victorians.

But something happened in the century just past. Perhaps two world wars, a major depression, the rise of the media and the dominance of Freudian psychology pushed love poetry into a forgotten corner. I’ve even heard that feminism made love poetry a dangerous occupation. Whatever the cause or causes, love poetry isn’t what it has been in times before ours.

Which makes Dave Malone’s book of poetry Under the Sycamore all the more remarkable. Malone, the author of several books of poetry and a university professor, first published the book in 2003. It is a volume of 100 poems, all untitled and all short (the longest is eight lines). And they are all poems about love – love yearned for, love found, love lost, love regained – almost a story of a relationship that happens over an entire lifetime.

He begins:

Looking at the stars,
I have one thought
where I’m holding you
until they disappear.

And then this:

The moonlight on your face
through the open window
is actually my breath.

These short poems are filled with longing and passion, the self- and shared knowledge of two lovers, along with emptiness, loss and then reconciliation.

I lost my way in the snow
until I heard your voice
in the swirling wind.

To read these poems (and to read them aloud) is to sit in a well-lit, under-furnished room, watching the object of your love, who is unaware of being observed. Under the Sycamore is a beautiful volume of love poems. We need more of them.

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Glynn Young
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Glynn Young
Editor and Twitter-Party-Cool-Poem-Weaver at Tweetspeak Poetry
Glynn Young lives in St. Louis where he recently retired as the team leader for Online Strategy & Communications for a Fortune 500 company. Glynn writes poetry, short stories and fiction, and he loves to bike. He is the author of Poetry at Work and the Dancing Priest Series. Find Glynn at Faith, Fiction, Friends.
Glynn Young
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Filed Under: article, book reviews, love poetry, poetry

Comments

  1. L. L. Barkat says

    January 10, 2012 at 9:21 am

    Oh, do we need more of them? [she smiles and plans 🙂 ]

    I loved this post. Never really thought about whether Love Poetry was big anymore or not. I think, though, as you say… it’s time for more love.

    And Dave’s poems are simply delicious!

    Reply
  2. Dave Malone says

    January 10, 2012 at 11:12 am

    Wow, wow, wow. Glynn, I am very moved. Thank you for this glowing review–and for viewing my poems in the context of history and feminism. And thanks much for this, L.L. and for the tweet this morning.

    Reply
  3. Laura Visser Anderson says

    January 10, 2012 at 12:33 pm

    Makes me smile just thinking about it. Thanks Dave, for the love.

    Reply
  4. Megan Willome says

    January 10, 2012 at 1:30 pm

    You’re right, there has been a shortage of love poetry. From the two you mention, they look like they are meant to be read aloud, to become breath.

    Reply
  5. Megan Willome says

    January 10, 2012 at 1:30 pm

    oops. Three poems.

    Reply
  6. S. Etole says

    January 10, 2012 at 3:18 pm

    So good … both the review and the poems! I especially like the one with the snow.

    Reply
  7. Dave Malone says

    January 10, 2012 at 10:47 pm

    You bet, Laura. 🙂 And thanks, Megan. I like the way you put it. 🙂

    Reply
  8. nancemarie says

    January 11, 2012 at 5:16 pm

    refreshing…

    Reply
  9. nancemarie says

    January 11, 2012 at 5:21 pm

    kindling

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Make Time for Wine and Poetry - Tweetspeak Poetry says:
    November 12, 2012 at 7:56 pm

    […] Dickinson, too, loves wine and its winsome qualities—but it pales in comparison to the power of poetry to invigorate the tongue and the […]

    Reply
  2. Dave Malone's “O: Love Poems from the Ozarks” says:
    February 10, 2015 at 2:33 pm

    […] of life in the Ozarks, and it’s thanks to Dave Malone’s poetry: View from the North Ten; Under the Sycamore; Seasons of Love; and Poems to Love, and the Body. His latest collection, O: Love Poems from the […]

    Reply

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