Yes, the term art stems from artifice, fiction is by definition false, and poetry is a construct of words, but readers—those lovers of the fabricated—almost always favor that which treads closest to fact; and by fact I mean the transpired, the suffered, the believed and dreamed, the considered and caressed, the undergone, the breathed, and all else sincere. We look for that which condenses and presents the human experience in text: underneath the vehicles of plot and character, metaphor and symbol, there is the communicative pulse made easy to hear, and we’re kept alive by its rhythm.
Including myself in that life-seeking group of readers, I’m always pleased to find something that presents a little piece of life. Having read her first chapbook, Skidding Through the Mud Incognito, I am lead to believe that Jenifer Wills, editor of Literary Mary, most definitely has that eye that creates fact. Her style of poetry, reminiscent of the bold statements of Bukowski—one of her primary influences—is not at all what I would normally read, but I’m very glad I did. From the first line of the first poem, she introduces us to a life as hard, as dark, and as stunning as any in the world of fact:
The blood came when I was still young
From there we go on to feel love, loss, responsibility, fear, maturity, acceptance, and everything else felt on rough roads. In “I Said the Wrong Thing Again,” there is a sense of aching disillusionment with love, expressed simply through the fate of a pink t-shirt and some make-up. This collection is a multifaceted aria of one who has lived and lived again, hard and soft moments alike.
There are a few pieces where the focus is lost, such as in “Thoughts on Law Enforcement,” which could have been integrated more smoothly with the rest of the poems, but overall it’s strong from start to finish. The sense of reality, again, saturates each page—a world not our own but a strong and affecting copy, peppered by gloom and bound by hope.
Skidding Through the Mud Incognito is available through erbacce press:
