This
is the first poetry collection of R.L. Raymond, a Canadian writer and founder
of PigeonBike Press. The book’s twenty-six poems are tightly crafted and
explore a wide variety of subject matter in an open-ended and understated way. These
are largely third person narrative poems which focus on ordinary incidents- a
motor vehicle accident, visiting a relative in the local hospital, sitting in a
pub, sending a son to the shop to buy smokes and the like. Despite the basic
subject matter of many of the poems, what elevates this book is the
pain-staking and strikingly original way in which the poems are conceived and
constructed.
The
stiff, shiny cover features an original oil painting by the writer. It has a
swirl of bright colours like inside a furnace with three thin finger-like bars slashed into the
foreground. The title Sonofabitch Poems
is highly memorable and was coined by R.L. Raymond to mirror ‘the tough guy sonofabitches’ he writes about in his
collection. As Raymond explains in the interview
which follows, he had written three early poems about ‘tough guys’ and this
emphasis on character drove the rest of the book:
‘I had three poems about legendary,
pseudo tough guys (Skallagrim, Gambrinus and St Vitus) that worked really well
together. Those became the foundation. From there I build characters and
situations where sons-of-bitches acted, reacted, interacted. There are some
tough guys, tough gals, and also regular folks affected by SOBs in one way or
another. The tread is character driven in this collection.’
Most
of the poems are characteristically 1-2 pages in length and provide brief glimpses into
the lives of a variety of often unnamed people, who exist on the margins
of mainstream society. The portraits are unsentimental and sometimes crushingly
grim. The reader is presented with deft, nuanced figurative language,
occasionally embedded with clever but opaque allusions.
In
‘L’acadien perdu’ a young man is king-hit outside a dive bar and is left to
perish in the snow. ‘Lucky Luke’s car crashes into a ditch during an accident.
He rolls down his window and is punched in the face by a road ragger. In
‘Phenoptosis’ a man ‘with the perfect lawn’ has shot himself with a hand gun.
Outside his house, the police, family and counsellors blare away on a megaphone
not aware that he is already dead. In ‘Gambrinus’ a tough barfly sits drinking
and waiting for ‘whatever else came his way.’
The
portraits sometimes reveal to the reader, through dramatic irony, the false
hopes people desperately cling to. In ‘A dirty bowl’ a child steals a coin
from a church collection plate every Sunday and tosses it into a dry well in
the hope his deceased mother will return. In ‘Crusts’ a dying man in hospital wheezes
out a wish for a ribeye steak. In ‘On the grate’ a homeless woman sees her
ex-husband, a doctor, approaching her hovel and futilely thinks that he has
‘finally come back for her.’ He walks on, not knowing nor caring she is there.
In the powerful thirteen page ‘Gravedigger- a long poem’ the protagonist buries
the old man’s dog after his neighbor blows his head partially off with a rifle.
Despite R.L. calling himself a ‘non-poet’ elsewhere and the
book’s pretensions to appeal to a wider, non-academic audience, much of the pleasure
for me inside these pages derives from unraveling the meaning and form of the
poems. The best poems in the collection certainly ask more of its readers.
The
beauty of the poems lies in the scattered, often shotgun detail that R.L.
Raymond provides the reader. On first reading you understand the essence of
most poems, but because the author has deliberately withheld crucial
information, or has incorporated ambiguities, he denies us a precise reading.
It’s up to the reader therefore to fill in the gaps based on their past
experiences to make better sense of the poem. The reader therefore becomes
involved in the composer’s process of creation.
Take
the first seven lines of ‘A little yellow room’ as an example:
maybe
he hadn’t heard her scream ‘no!’
because
her voice was young
and
again
maybe
he hadn’t heard her scream ‘I’m bleeding!’
because
the phone lines were scratchy
she
hailed a cab alone
so
mom wouldn’t find out
The
passage seems to raise more questions than it answers. The details of the
narrative are as scratchy as the phone line. Who is the girl calling? Her
boyfriend? Did he hear her screaming ‘no’, and ‘I’m bleeding’? Why would he not
want to admit hearing her pleas? Was she attacked? Why is she bleeding? Why
does she go to the hospital in a cab rather than by ambulance? Why doesn’t she
want her mother to know?
While
she sits in the back seat of the cab she is revolted by the stink of previous
passengers. The poem concludes:
she
closed her eyes to block it out
imagining
a little yellow room
from
a hallmark special around Christmas time
where
girls in pigtails and boys with perfectly parted hair
were
polite and beautiful
singing
songs about baby jesus
The
poem starts to make more sense. She has lost her virginity to her boyfriend and
she has to go to the hospital because she continues to bleed. She doesn’t want
her mother to know she’s had sex and her boyfriend is freaked out so she goes
to the hospital alone. The yellow room symbolizes the state of childlike innocence
and naivety that she would now like to return to.
‘Exhaust
on the wild flames’, ‘Officer & Gentleman’, and especially ‘After the third
beer and not much to eat’ also work in this style and are worthy of close
detailed study. R.L. Raymond discusses his writing methods further in the
interview below.
Overall,
this is an intelligent, well thought out collection brimming with ideas,
skilful word play and bold experimentation.
The poems creep up on you and as you draw further connections and associations, the
poems will deliver their sucker punch to you when you least expect it.
Find further reviews and purchase
details of Sonofabitch Poems here:
INTERVIEW WITH R.L. RAYMOND 18 April 2012
Q1:
R.L., You tell stories, like bourbon and have an MA in English Literature from
the University of Western Ontario. What else can you tell us about yourself?
RL: I still tell stories, I
also drink gin and tonic in summer, and I’ve forgotten a lot of what I learned
those many years ago. Aside from that, I’m really just a guy writing words that
I hope people enjoy reading.
Q2: When did you first develop an
interest in poetry and who are some of your present influences?
RL: I’ve been writing for a
long time, more seriously since about 2001. Not that I’d share much of that
‘juvenilia’ now, but there are some good lines here and there that sometimes
find their way back into current stuff. I started getting published more
consistently early last year – coincidentally when I started submitting a lot
more. I am quite proud of the range of mags that accept my stuff – from
literary to underground, scientific to comedic.
Influences are a hard thing to
answer: are there poets and writers? Of course. But when you talk actual
‘influences,’ those things that MAKE you write, I’d probably list ambient drone
music, darker beats by folks like Lustmord, Horseback, Pyramids… and I have to
give props to Metal. To me, a nice loud blast of “Circle of the Tyrants” by
Celtic Frost or “Snakes for the Divine” by High on Fire will get me going.
Personally ‘influence’ isn’t those contemporaries I admire, or the dead that
I’ve studied; ‘influence’ is what do I take in and regurgitate with, I hope, my
stamp on it.
But for those writers that really
touched me – Faulkner, McCarthy, Barnes, Eliot, Pound, Beckett, HD, Stevens – I
tip my hat.
Q3: You’ve been publishing in small
press magazines for a couple of years. Who do you rate amongst the best you’ve
read and why?
RL: A few mags are stellar, either
for their execution, their ‘vibe’ or a combination of both. Epic Rites always
manages to capture the blood and guts. There are a lot of underground places
that TRY to push that envelope, but it’s a hard thing to do right. Epic Rites
Press does it. From a Canadian perspective, I think Carousel has to be one of
the most fun, attractive, polished offerings I’ve seen in a long time. And the
content is varied, interesting. With the small press there is SO MUCH stuff.
Everyone has a niche, a schtick, and that’s cool. To me, if it’s entertaining,
and well put together, I’m in. I am still a print purist, so a mag has to sound
good, but FEEL good too.
Q4: Turning to your first collection
Sonofabitch Poems, apart from its head turning appeal, why did you
choose this title?
RL: There is an actual genesis here.
I had three poems about legendary, pseudo tough guys (Skallagrim, Gambrinus and
St Vitus) that worked really well together. Those became the foundation. From
there I build characters and situations where sons-of-bitches acted, reacted,
interacted. There are some tough guys, tough gals, and also regular folks
affected by SOBs in one way or another. The tread is character driven in this
collection.
Q5: Why is your finely crafted book
‘dedicated to all the non-poets’?
RL: Poet is a label I abhor. You
can’t call yourself a “poet” inasmuch as you can’t call yourself a “virtuoso.”
It’s not yours to use. But, today, with social media, websites, innumerable
‘poetic’ places, everyone calls him or herself a poet. Not me. I’m a writer. I
tell stories. There are line breaks, and ‘poetic’ diction / devices, but they
exist only to add to the narrative. I have trouble separating my ‘poetry’ from
my ‘prose’ so I just call it all writing. Someone wants to call me a poet, OK;
but that’s not a compliment for this guy.
Q6: A predominant theme in the book
appears to be about false or crushed hopes, yet ironically, there is an
underlying sparkle of humour in the book. What are you trying to say about
human nature?
RL: Well, I wouldn’t go that deep!
Human nature is an ugly, ugly thing. What I try to do is take everyday
situations, look at them from the outside, like an ‘alien’ as a good writer
friend of mine likes to put it, and tell the ‘story’ I see. It’s a voyeuristic
enterprise. Snapshots. Fill in the blanks. Here is a quick example:
Resolve
a paperclip
bent repeatedly
between thumbs
and forefingers
snapped
her hands
warming a glass
of red wine
at a table for two
in another room
What’s going on? Who? Why? I don’t
care. I am writing that slice; you are filling in the blanks. Is it ugly, or
beautiful? Your call. There is nothing in the above but an open-ended story.
That’s my job. Here’s a snapshot – what does it say to you?
Q7: How were you able to solicit
the help of the American poet John Yamrus in the editing of your book?
RL: I met John through some online
interactions (we’ve actually never met in person – something we’ll change soon
I hope) and through chatting, calls, emails, we figured out we are on the same
page when it comes to poetry. John was helpful in paring down what didn’t need
to be there. Let the story tell itself. Don’t overdo it. My favourite Yamrus
collection has to be “doing cartwheels on doomsday afternoon.” It is required
reading in my opinion.
We often
exchange writing, comments, and practices. What I’ve learned most is the
‘business’ of writing. Submit, submit, submit. Stay true to your craft and
you’ll find it a home. There is evidently a writerly connection there – check
out the number of times we’ve appeared in print together (never planned!) But
I’ve got a long way to go. John’s been published so much I can’t keep track.
But, I’m doing OK. And I’ve got the confidence of youth on my side – HA! Just
kidding John (kinda).
Q8: You are the Editor/Creator of
PigeonBike Press. Can you briefly explain the events in the lead up to
your decision to set up the publishing company?
RL: PB started old-school in 1995.
The whole underground thing: posters as calls for submission; the issue
photocopied and stapled and passed around; contributors handing them out. It
was small. It was me and a university friend just wanting to try it out. We did
one issue. That was it. I resurrected PigeonBike in January 2011 for fun.
Started as a blog to showcase some writers that I liked reading. Totally
egotistical. If I liked it, it went up. Then I grew bored of the internet, of
digital stuff – I’ve always been a book addict. So, I launched a few print
issues and they were quite well received. Then I did the collections – full
colour covers, perfect bound, hyper-professional looking. I have since turned
off the digital part of PB, focusing on the print only. I want to practice what
I preach: the permanence of ink and paper; putting out a product that contains
both writing quality and physical beauty; showcasing what the small press can
and should do. I think the current Print Issue “Semi Permanent Death” is the
pinnacle of what I’ve been able to do with PigeonBike. It’s packed with great
writing and photography. And, I humbly think it looks and feels wonderful. Pick
up a copy: http://pigeonbike.blogspot.ca/2012/04/semi-permanent-death-now-available.html
Q9: What is the underlying
philosophy behind PigeonBike Press?
RL: Simply put PigeonBike puts out
stuff I like to read, on paper, to be shared and passed along. I want
PigeonBike, however small it may be, to be a Press people respect and
admire.
Q10: What have been some of the
highlights/ problems you’ve encountered so far with PigeonBike Press?
RL: As much as I love print, as
much as I admire quality paper and printing methods, it’s expensive. I’ve used
old-school offset presses, new-school digital presses, quality materials to
ensure the longevity of PB titles. All this said, the world is changing. People
want now, free, right away. ‘Likes’ and ‘re-tweets’ aren’t accepted currency at
the printers. And because I don’t like e-devices and digital books, I don’t
really want to play in that sandbox. But I’ve made that choice, to be old
school and try my hardest to fight the death of print. So I’ll continue to
fight.
Highlights? The writing. At the
end of the day, that’s what it’s all about. I have discovered people whose work
I’d never heard of. I hope that a little exposure in PigeonBike helps those
writers. Maybe a reader will pick up a print issue, a collection, whatever, and
decide to support that writer by buying more of his or her work.
I just want to keep telling the
stories that matter.
Thanks R.L. for taking the time in
answering my questions so thoroughly.
My pleasure. Keep up the good fight.
It’s the interplay and cooperation like this that can only help the small
press. I tip my hat to you.
