 William Michaelian has not the heaviness or the length of Whitman’s works, however, he addresses many of the concerns voiced by Whitman. Michaelian is an innovative elegiac voice.
Reviewed by Molly Martin
Another Song I Know
by William Michaelian
Cosmopsis Books
Perfect Paperback: 80 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0979659911
Another Song I Know is a reintroduction of verse to the world-weary, anxious working class grassroots of America culture that has long draw away from any hint of qualities such as cadence, or lilt, stress or tempo, rhythm or intonation that provides reading or oral communication with anything close to melodic character.
Michaelian, a man not yet sixty, of Armenian heritage, was raised in the San Joaquin Valley, California. Dinuba, not far from where I too grew up, is an area of rich farmland; grape vineyards and music abound. In winter the land become stark, bleak, filled with fog and foreboding, in summer the sun beats mercilessly. It is difficult to not be affected by the land, the people and the weather.
Another Song I Know contains less than 100 pages of some of his Michaelian's best versifying. Short, tight, no verbiage for the sake of filling the page or adding more; the verses are light, short and kept to the subject. From the pen of a master, the short ode is mesmeric. We are first captured by what the verse discloses; later as we read again, we embark on a journey to discover how that came to be. And that is the wonder of poetry.
Michaelian presents words as fine jewels encompassing sixty-four short works that remain our thoughts, and appear to shimmer from the page. William Michaelian has not the heaviness or the length of Whitman’s works, however, he addresses many of the concerns voiced by Whitman. Michaelian is an innovative elegiac voice.
One of his works that I like very much is ‘Wolves.':
What thick coats
they have, what eager
eyes and tongues.
What wild dreams,
framed by a rim
of naked trees.
I give a carefree
whistle, call them
to the door.
One day, perhaps, we will turn away from noise and rushing, and worrying about how much a jug of milk is costing and technology and all of the minutiae that fills our thoughts and actions and prevents anything more than mindless gazing at a little box blaring from across the room, and we will if not actually write something; will reach for a work of poetry written by someone else.
One day, perhaps we will again turn to poetry for a rudder, an insight into ourselves and the world around us, for an scrutiny of the mundane of life that IS important, is vital and needs to be put into words.
One day, perhaps, but not today. I am glad that Michaelian is doing that writing for the rest of us just now. His is a voice that needs to be heard, his is a message that carries joy and hope, poignancy and triumph. He is a real poet who can look at our lives and tell us what it is he is seeing. We are the better for it.
Reviewed by: molly martin
www.angelfire.com/ok4/mollymartin
www.AuthorsDen.com/mjhollingshead
20+ years classroom teacher
|
