This
book consists of 50 new poems, 37 selected poems from Denander’s previous
collections and an unusual short story ‘The Poetry of Mr Blue’. These are mostly
first person, free verse narrative poems highly influenced by Charles Bukowski
and Gerald Locklin. Denander, 60, lives between his native Stockholm, Sweden
and Hydra Island in Greece. He has been publishing poetry since 1999 and is the
editor of Kamini Press, a small press publisher of fine books. http://kaminipress.com/
The
poems in this collection are diverse in subject matter and almost all are narrated
from Denander’s point of view. You will find poems about childhood reminiscences,
dreams, chance encounters, his fascination with Charles Bukowski, his various
health issues, amusing conversations with his wife and young son, his take on the
writing of poetry and numerous reflections on musicians and their music.
As
Denander explains in his poem ‘How to write a poem’: ‘I try to write about
almost everything; // the weather or just making observations on/ people
passing on the street or what goes on/ in my head while having a cup of coffee
down at/ Café Merci on Horngatan.’ Further to this in ‘All my jobs’ he states explicitly
that his overall intent is to write poems based on his memory of his ‘interesting’
real life experiences: ‘Three years ago I started to write poetry and now/ I
try to remember what I have done all my life to/ see if there was anything
interesting to write a poem/ about.’ Some of his poems about writing poetry,
such as, ‘Waiting for the line’ and ‘7 AM at the Zeus hotel’ are self reflexive
and engage the reader in the writer’s own process of creation. In the latter
poem he wakes up early in the small town of Tolo in Greece and observes the delivery
vans and the swimmers headed for the beach: ‘I have a notebook and the book on
Mycenae, I/ drink coffee, pat the dog and write some stuff in/ my notebook.//
Stuff like this.’
The
writing is highly accessible and is characteristically delivered in a self –effacing,
understated tone. Many of the poems, especially the new material, work towards
a terse, often ironic punch line. In ‘Interview’, for example, his friend The
Waffle reads in a long interview of Denander in an American poetry magazine that
he has given up alcohol. Asked whether this was true, the poet answers: ‘Maybe
this is the thing that will make me/ a famous poet?’ In ‘Nursing’ he explains
to his wife and son his cytoscopic operation for his kidney stone. A long
instrument is inserted through his penis to remove the stone. His son William
innocently asks, ‘Did there really have to be two nurses to do that?’ In ‘The last stanza’ Denander receives a
rejection letter from an editor who mentions that he ‘really liked’ one of his
poems until the last stanza. The narrator concludes: ‘I liked the letter from
the editor/ except his last stanza.’
This cheeky, humane humour is delivered deadpan and is refreshing to read in the
ocean of pretentious, self-obsessed poets.
As
briefly noted above, the poems often derive from fond recollections of personal
or professional anecdotes. Denander worked as a financial manager for an
independent Swedish record company and later ran his own business as a manager
for Swedish artists for over ten years. Several of the poems provide Denander’s
reflections on musicians who he has seen in concert or has had financial dealings
with, such as Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Dave Liebman, Jimmy Cobb and others. One of the better poems
in this category is ‘Patrons are requested to keep as quiet as possible during
the artistes performance’ about Denander’s attendance at a Ronnie Scott concert
at the Portobella Hotel in the Notting Hill area in London. After talking drunkingly
to his friend Lars through most of the show, he chats with his client Chet
Baker and other band members until six in the morning. The flute player
complains about the noisy crowd but Denander doesn’t let on that ‘they were/
talking to/ the two loudest/ troublemakers/ in the/ audience.’
The poem ‘headache & a cup of coffee’ is a fine,
representative example of Denander’s poetry:
(reprinted with the permission of the author)
headache
and a cup of coffee
|
|
keith jarrett is fingering away
some well known melodies all by himself
more controlled than he usually is
hesitating to take off without the bass and the drums
perhaps waiting for them
to arrive
trying to get the guts to go to the office
and do some work this Saturday but i´ve got a headache and i ended up in front of the computer
my wife and young son are visiting the Mother-in-law over
the weekend
i will call them later
tell them i have been working all day i am surfing on the net and sending emails and answering letters and writing a long poem about the time i met chet baker in london in 1986
making a cup of coffee from the greek coffee that
we brought home from hydra it´s nescafé but in the greek way tastes great stir it into hot milk and you are in java paradise
it started to snow again yesterday
bad news now it´s five in the afternoon and still light outside i think the winter will slowly leave now
thinking of writing a poem about just nothing
or perhaps about the things i have been doing today
i´ll think about it
we'll see |
(reprinted with the permission of the author)
The
poem has a spontaneous feel to it and is driven through a free flow of
associations, both past and present. It incorporates the clear first person/
free verse signature style of the poet and many of his central motifs- the
centrality of music and family in his life, headaches, his dual Swedish/Greece lifestyle
and his reflections on the writing process. Near the end of the poem he writes:
‘it started to snow again yesterday/ bad news/ now it’s five in the afternoon
and/ still light outside/ I think the winter/ will slowly leave now// thinking
about writing a poem about just nothing/ or perhaps about the things I have
been doing today.’ He concludes with the ironic, self reflexive punch line: ‘I’ll
think about it// we’ll see.’
In
a very recent Rusty Truck interview (http://rustytruck.wordpress.com/2013/01/06/henry-denander-the-rusty-truck-interview/)
Denander told Scott Young, ‘I don’t write much poetry these days.’ Instead he appears to enjoy his day to day life
without having to resort to the word: ‘a really good day is spent on a
September day on Hydra Island in Greece with my family, writing some letters in
the morning, breakfast with figs from the garden, reading Murakami,
siesta below the orange tree, painting some water colors or drawing with ink
in the afternoon, a swim from the cliffs when the sun is cooler and then
some Kalamari at Dimitri’s tavern at night.’
He
also says in the interview that the poetry of Charles Bukowski was the greatest
influence on his art and writing, but that he never deliberately imitated him. Bukowski
‘opened up the poetry thing’ for Denander by making him
see that there were no limits to what you could write about, ‘I have never
tried to write like Bukowski. I have written about family and music and work
and travels, it was just so refreshing that you could write about almost
anything and find your own poem – as long as it has some rhythm and soul.'
Denander
mentions in the Rusty Truck interview that he collects Bukowski memorabilia and
has a signed copy of most of his first editions. ‘At the racetrack’, ‘A record
and a letter,’ ‘The SASE’ and ‘Wormwood Review’ are all about Denander’s
attempts to order Bukowski related stuff. In
‘The SASE’, for example, he discusses his prized framed Bukowski self-addressed
envelope he bought on eBay and which now hangs framed on his wall. In ‘A record
and a letter’ he narrates how in 1982 he received a Buk record direct from the
legend & had later received a brief note from him after he had written
Bukowski in a complimentary way about his second novel Factotum. Denander concludes the poem: ‘These things/ made me/ feel
honoured in some/ strange way.’
Overall,
this is a mature, highly readable collection in the Bukowski tradition. The
writing is immediately accessible and focuses on memorable incidents in Henry
Denander’s life. He provides inspiration to fledgling writers on how to shape their own experience into poetry. He writes about ordinary stuff in a clean, non bullshit way. Perhaps Denander has finished mining the narrative
gold of his life and has written himself out. Time will tell.
SOME ONLINE RESOURCES
For
the best price buy the book here (free delivery): http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Accidental-Navigator-Henry-Denander/9781929878888
Check out Henry Denander’s website where he features
his poetry & artwork. He incredibly includes ninety-four of his poems many
which appear in The Accidental Navigator or
in his previous collections: http://www.henrydenander.com/
On the Lummox Press website find some blurbs and
three poems from the collection: ‘It was like seeing a ghost walking the port
at Hydra’, ‘Nursing’ and ‘At the Racetrack.’ http://www.lummoxpress.com/lummoxpress/denander.htm
For
an example of his water colour paintings of jazz & blues musicians see
‘Miles Davis’ and ‘Blues for retirement’on Poetry Dispatch: http://poetrydispatch.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/henry-denander-6-poems-on-writing-writers-fatherhood-marriage-jazz-jazz-musicians-fame-much-more/
Find four poems from the collection ‘Beauty Sleep’,
‘The revenge of the couch potato’ ‘Accept your name’ and The SASE’ on Poet
Hound here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Accidental-Navigator-Henry-Denander/dp/1929878885
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