Other than one of the most interesting titles I’ve
come across as a title for a collection
of poems, and I’ve seen more than my fair
share, I can tell you that for a fact, is
Talking About Movies with Jesus by David Kirby,
and the only thing more fascinating than
the title is the sheer exuberance of these poems
I mean, they are all structured, sort of, like the line
you’re reading now, but they are nothing
short of a riot in the range of what
they cover, and if you think talking about movie
with Jesus is odd, try Bo Diddly
in Japan, or talking about Jesus
with Little Richard that goes on forever about
Little Richard if not Jesus and you learn
so much about Little Richard that by the time
this longish poem ends he’s become a friend of yours,
and you know about his music and
his songs and how Kirby the poet loaned
money to Little Richard’s cousin in Macon, Georgia,
and you begin to wonder if this whole collection
is some kind of stream of consciousness rambling structured
or perhaps destructured in a self-conscious
kind of way which sounds contradictory I know
but welcome to this collection about popular culture
things and spiritual things and not just
Little Richard, either, but Johnny Cash and the Stones
and Paganini and his violin known as the Cannon
or maybe it’s the musical canon, these poems get so wild
like a Chuck Berry strut or Michael
moonwalking and he probably started the whole Zombie
thing anyway with Thriller but Kirby doesn’t
get into that although he probably
should have. We have a veritable polyglot
of characters here, Virgil and Tertullian and Jesus and Pat Nixon
(and going skinny dipping with the former First Lady I mean
I told you this was one wild ride) of a book
that keeps coming back like a returning
boomerang to Jesus, not just Little Richard
but a wrong-eyed Jesus and that title poem, the one about
movies and it’s set in Luxembourg Gardens of all places that
starts off as a meditation on why the gardens
are called Luxembourg but that’s pretty typical of these
poems as they travel down lots of side streets but still manage
to stay on the main highway since they do manager
to finally get around to talking about movies, Kirby and Jesus,
I mean. Since I was so taken with these poems how Kirby’s
poetic style which fits the subjects at hand I suppose I should tell
you something about the poet, who teaches English
at Florida State U (probably holds classes in the football
stadium, I bet). He’s one fellowships, too like the Guggenheim
(there’s an art museum, too, named that) and the
National Endowment for the Arts (same acronym as
the teachers union but I didn’t have to tell you that) and he’s
been a finalist for the National Book Award and published several
books before so I think after reading this one I will
definitely pick up more because he has a whole lot
to say about life.
Image by fernando garcia redondo. Sourced via Flickr. Post by Glynn Young, author of the novels Dancing Priest and A Light Shining.
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Maureen Doallas says
Structured Rambling
Little Richard goes on
forever, I can tell you
that, and the only thing
short of more fascinating
than Little Richard talking
is Little Richard talking
about movies with Jesus
or typical spiritual things
in Japan, or some cousin
in Georgia in a longish riot
about some odd book
collection Virgil is returning.
You can learn so much
in a line for movies, definitely
pick up on meditation classes
with the Stones, which sounds
wild but the sheer exuberance
of the Stones going skinny
dipping with Pat Nixon is
kind of wild, I mean
they have that whole Zombie
thing going, to get into. Any
way you know music started
with a Chuck Berry strut
to Johnny Cash, moonwalking
in Luxembourg Gardens, down
side streets in that poetic style
Paganini was so taken with
and Michael called a Thriller.
Popular culture is just poems
started in some football stadium.
After the way the teachers union
destructured it, all of the art
of Little Richard, which is talking,
is, you bet, welcome. But I don’t
have to go wrong-eyed to tell
you: if I can manage a whole
collection for a Guggenheim fellowship
U can think to say something too.
davis says
🙂
very cool
Martha Orlando says
Wow! What a poem you have constructed here, Glynn. I can tell from your enthusiastic stream-of-consciousness that this poet and his poetry have you hooked. 🙂
Thanks for sharing, my friend!