Kurt Messick Bares His Soul In A Chorus Of Voices
Written: Apr 27 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: poetry with feeling, originality and honesty
Cons: couldn't make sense of a few or use of parenthesis
The Bottom Line: I've never reviewed poetry before, but it was actually fun...
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| jankp's Full Review: A Chorus of Voices Books |
The man can write poetry without rhyme or reason, no titles or capitalization (usually) or constraints in form or content. It isn't cute stuff about his cats, God or relationships, indeed I only smiled infrequently while reading, but more of a philosophical interlude as we prepare for sleeping, a soft welcoming into the night, a great delicious sighing about moonbeams, flowers, sandpipers, London, holy places, gods, dreams, unrequited love, loneliness and passion.
It may strike you as odd that though I enjoy writing poetry, I don't usually read it, nor have I studied or analyzed it. Poetry, especially contemporary work, defies being defined and presumptuously labeled as if a dead specimen in a laboratory. I could (and will) reread A Chorus Of Voices in a week or year and suddenly what I didn't understand the first time, and there are many poems, will leap out at me with exciting meaning.
Still I'll try to share my impressions and favorite images of the poetry that Kurt wrote in the late 1990s for the defunct Themestream.com, some previously published in The Thirteen Apostles and poetry journals in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. There are three sections: First Poems, Sonnets and Non-conclusions in 95 pages.
To start out we should take note of his title poem that provides the framing for the rest of his artistry. It is also printed on the back of the book to underscore its importance and I'll offer it to you now:
A chorus of voices,
Straining to sing songs
That birds in distant forests
Have taught to illiterate poets,
Fills the air of a hundred autumn nights.
(Obviously he thinks of himself as an illiterate poet. Clue one!)
This song has never been translated,
But I have always understood its meaning.
The stars sing the same song;
An oboe and flute compliment the voices
And the trees are silent listeners.
(I've always thought that walking in a sun-lit forest was like being in a cathedral and the silence filled with an awareness of life's beauty.)
The gentle stillness
Carries a full but incomplete dream
That waits for the sleeper to awaken and live.
The truth will have meaning only then,
When someone will sing.
(Beauty is not just to be appreciated, but rejoiced in!)
An illiterate poet appreciating and rejoicing in all the sounds and instruments of life. Beautiful. The poem showcases a book filled with a symphony of like poetry and sonnets to nature, man, god, life, dissonance, dreams, night, stars, glory, harmony, words, polonius and lies. He realizes he's not Shakespeare and apologizes for it, but Shakespeare is overrated in my opinion, anyway! Hehe.
Red, orange and yellow, followed by blue and light/darkness color Kurt?s poetry; birds, ladybugs, dogs, squirrels and a couple of giraffes make an appearance for lighter selections. I did wonder a bit at his 'reflexion' twice used for reflection and his poetic invention 'treefully,' but his observations rang true and his voice in the love poetry was no less than a revelation. There's a two-page poem (most are on one page) that takes my speech away. It ends like this:
And when your fingers
Touch
Sensations to set off
Explosions of
Desire yearning to burn
Engulfing all around
And being cooled
By your eyes
With one look
Cool
Fanning the flames
That consume me
Til I live forever
Dying of passion
For your eyes. (pp 83)
That makes me think of my own sweetie who sometimes can be so into his thoughts that he won't look at me for a while, even when I talk to him, and I miss his gorgeous eyes with a passion!
But probably my favorite poem is one that shows how spiritual and not dogmatically religious Kurt is. It's rebellious and brave like the freespirit he at least in his soul attains to be, which isn't to say the other poetry isn't, though. I've really relished this musical treat for my head, heart and soul and will always despair that Kurt forgot to sign the copy sent to me from the campus bookstore. I guess he'll just have to collect more of his poetry to publish and sign that one, hehe.
Kurt, what's up with those silly parenthesis? I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the purpose of confusing me was, but people like 29th_Candidate would likely get a kick out of them. Heck, most anybody would find plenty in A Chorus Of Voices to provoke and amuse. I hope you'll check it out.
My favorite poem (because I could understand it!):
The saint of the pyre
Smiled at me
For he knew
I would believe
In him
In his truth
In truth alone
Which persists and dogmas
Of priests
Had managed to hide
In foreign languages
I stumbled across the truth
One day
In a vacant corner
In my mind
And the light
Inside
Has never stopped
Not even as flames
Engulf me
As I smile
At you (pp 41)
Recommended:
Yes
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Member: Jan Peregrine
Location: Lincoln, NE
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