Book Review/ Interview: Brenton Booth Punching The Teeth From The Sky. Epic Rites Press, 2016 (52 pages).

Brenton Booth Punching The Teeth From The Sky

This is the first extended collection of poetry by the Sydney poet Brenton Booth. Like others in the Epic Rites Press line up, he uses clear, sparse free verse to string together a few unconventional but miraculous hits.

There are twenty-five poems in this collection and the book can be comfortably read in thirty minutes. The poems were written between 2004 and 2016 and some have previously appeared in small press journals such as Chiron Review, Dead Snakes, Zombie Logic Review, Zygote in my Coffee and Bold Monkey.

Most of the poems are first person narrative poems written from the point of view of the poet and explore a variety of topics, including childhood reminiscences, philosophical ruminations, his relationship with women, the importance of Art and the writing process. The writing is raw and unembellished. The tone is consistent in a terse, self-effacing way.

The book’s cover was designed by Canadian poet and artist R L Raymond. It features a brick wall whose window has more recently been bricked in with the words “PUNCHING THE TEETH FROM THE SKY” graffitied in red on it.

The title poem ‘Punching The Teeth From The Sky’ is the last poem in the collection and is about a road trip written in the frenzied style of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It charts the poet’s impulsive romp through several towns on the east coast of Australia, including Byron Bay and Nimbin, and the strange people he encounters.

Booth lived in Sydney’s red-light district, King’s Cross, for twelve years and has worked in a variety of low paying, dead end jobs, such as, as a dishwasher, cashier, cleaner, usher and bartender. He expresses an empathy for the homeless (‘Ripped Off’) and the suicidal (‘Suicide Scars’) and often writes about how ordinary experiences have evoked in him a deeper sense of truth and of possibilities.

For Booth, just under the surface of things is the “long struggle”, to hold onto whatever he can to keep him going. Women help. Reading and listening to the masters helps. But above all else, the process of capturing the essence of his life through his writing helps him to survive and continue.

In the interview which follows, Brenton Booth mentions that as a young man he had suicidal thoughts, but his life changed when he chanced upon a second hand book shop, while working as a security guard in Sydney:

“Where I grew up people didn’t read books. At the time I was working as a security guard in a perfume factory in the city and had really lost any desire I had to live. Then one day after a 12-hour shift I passed a second-hand bookstore on the way to buying dinner in Chinatown. For some reason I decided to go inside and buy some books. I’d never really read a book before. I just got a few from every section. I ended up with Hemingway, Blake, Freud, Wilde, Whitman, Chekhov and a few autobiographies and others I can no longer remember.

Reading those books suddenly gave my life a purpose I had never had before. Those pages introduced me to the minds of people I never thought existed, people who bled, people who thought, people who were concerned with the meaning of things, and I wanted to be one of those people. Problem was I was always ashamed of my lack of education and didn’t believe I was smart enough to write.”

Many of the poems in the collection refer to writers, or metafictionally, the process of writing. ‘Searching For Hemingway’ is a rare third person poem about a Hemingway fan who travels to Cuba to rent out Hemingway’s old room so he can be inspired to write. ‘Re-Reading Chekhov’s The Seagull’ is a glowing tribute to the playwright and is directly addressed Chekhov. The poet praises him for saving his life. ‘Fante Is With Me Tonight’ is about an unpublished writer who sits alone in a cheap LA room under the belief that he “will one day be great.”

Booth recently related an interesting personal anecdote to me in which he explained the genesis of the poem and says of Fante, “John Fante had a big impact on me. Ask the Dust and Wait Until Spring Bandini introduced me to an honesty that in literature I think only Gorky can match, and maybe Carver at times. I love the man. And I definitely strive for the same honesty in my work, and hopefully achieve it sometime. Anyway, when I first read Fante I was living in a tiny apartment in Kings Cross living on cheap food and inspiration and the belief that writing is all that matters. As the years passed I eventually got a full-time job and had a little money to travel. I ended up in Downtown Los Angeles where of course Fante lived in Ask the Dust. I stayed in this really cheap hotel because that was basically the only place I could afford. And one night the poem came.”

Booth curiously shares a love for many of Charles Bukowski’s heroes: Fante, Chekhov, Knut Hamsun, Bach, Dostoyevsky, Hemingway and others. Asked about these similarities and the impact Bukowski had on his writing, Booth says:

“I guess we both listen to classical music. I started listening to it as a kid because my father listened to it. I didn’t read him until I was 24. I was in a production of ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ acting as the priest- funny casting right? The guy playing Big Daddy found out I wrote and asked me about my writing. I told him and he said that it sounded a lot like this American writer called Charles Bukowski. I’d never heard of him before. But read him a few months later. The book was The Most Beautiful Woman in Town. I thought it was great. Especially the title story. And since then I have read everything he has written. Like many other writers of course. And I suppose all of them have had an influence on my writing in some way.”

Booth is also a poet of social comment although he is reluctant to admit this. In some of his more memorable poems, Booth openly expresses a distaste for the system. In ‘Pale Blue Eyes’ he drunkenly dances with his girlfriend happy “not to be trapped in/ the false wheel of/ success that never goes anywhere.” In ‘Reason’ he reckons the animals “got it right” “and never/failed like us: with/ religion,/ money, murder,/ suicide,/ countries,/ politics,/ depression,/ depravity, disease.” In ‘Cemetery’ as a young adult, he rails against the death-in-life quality of work:

All working full-time jobs to pay

our way in society. In buildings

that no matter how hard I tried to

find another comparison, felt exactly

like those graveyards.

Another prominent theme in the collection is the passing of time. Booth wavers between wanting to accept that “all things change” (‘The Up And Down’) but sometimes wanting to preserve the moment. At the conclusion of the poem ‘Together’, Booth achingly grasps the ephemeral nature of love as a temporary reprieve from the “insanity” of the world:

naked and silent

the world at war outside

but we are protected

unconscious to it now

our pulses together

our heads on the same pillow

though deep inside a slight fear

the fear that this

could come

to an end.

Punching The Teeth From The Sky is a short, authentic collection. In his re-imaginings of city life, Booth pays tribute to the masters but also stamps out the territory for his own emerging voice.

 A poem from the collection Punching The Teeth From The Sky:

THE BUSTY BLONDE

She left me at 5am

to go back to her

husband and kids.

I met her at midnight

at the local bar. I was

strutting around like

the toughest guy on

earth. “If you’re so

tough, show me your

hard-on!” she said.

I sat with her. She

had coke and shared

it with me. A few hours

later we were naked.

She sucked me but I

couldn’t get it up

because of the coke.

“Not much use, are

you.” I told her to

lay down and open

her legs and went to

work. She moaned like

a virgin. “Just imagine

what I could do if I had

a boner.” Well I jiggled

it and shook it and she

tried sucking me a few

more times but it just

wouldn’t work. And now

all I can think about is

that beautiful pussy-

with a hard on and

nothing to do with it.

(reprinted with the permission of the poet)

 Buy the book here: http://www.epicrites.org/

Further Reading:

Find out more about Brenton Booth here: http://brentonbooth.weebly.com/

Read Brenton Booth’s first published poem: http://www.guttereloquence.com/issue21/bbooth21.html

INTERVIEW WITH BRENTON BOOTH 10 JUNE 2016

Brenton, congratulations on your book it is a great achievement. How did you come up with the stunning title ‘Punching The Teeth From The Sky’ which is the name of the last poem in your collection?

It is actually a line from a poem I wrote a couple of months ago. The poem had the line “waiting for the stars to punch the teeth from the sky”. And I called that particular poem ‘Punching The Teeth From The Sky’ originally. It wasn’t until after Wolfgang asked me for 32 pages that I decided to use it as the title and also to change the name of the last poem in the book from ‘On The Tar’ to it.

On your Acknowledgements page you thank Wolfgang Carstens “for being one tough beautiful motherfucker!” What was he like to work with and can you fill us in on the process from your original submission to your book’s eventual publication and release?

Wolf is amazing! Not only is he a truly great writer, he is also a great editor. He is the guy I know I can send my best work to and he will get it. I often hold stuff back because I know it isn’t fancy enough or says too much, etc. That is never a problem with him: he is a great reader.

This is actually the third book of mine that he has accepted for publication. ‘Dying Under An Unforgiving Sun’ was part of the Punk Chapbook Series 1. And ‘Dancing On The Cactus’ will be part of series 2. For this book he sent me an email asking me for 32 pages. A few days later I sent him ‘Punching’. He quickly let me know he “loved it” and apart from requesting 2 extra poems of my choice, left it exactly as I sent it. He gave me complete freedom, saying, “ He loved what I did, and didn’t want to mess with it.”

Not long after that he sent me a PDF proof to approve and the galleys of the cover by Canadian poet and artist R L Raymond, which I immediately liked.

A couple of weeks later I had a ‘bound proof’ sent to me for final approval and about a week later the book was officially released.

You started writing when you were nineteen. Why did you decide to write the stuff and who were some of your early influences and why? Were you mainly writing for yourself or for a wider audience in mind?

Where I grew up people didn’t read books. At the time I was working as a security guard in a perfume factory in the city and had really lost any desire I had to live. Then one day after a 12-hour shift I passed a second-hand bookstore on the way to buying dinner in Chinatown. For some reason I decided to go inside and buy some books. I’d never really read a book before. I just got a few from every section. I ended up with Hemingway, Blake, Freud, Wilde, Whitman, Chekhov and a few autobiographies and others I can no longer remember.

Reading those books suddenly gave my life a purpose I had never had before. Those pages introduced me to the minds of people I never thought existed, people who bled, people who thought, people who were concerned with the meaning of things, and I wanted to be one of those people. Problem was I was always ashamed of my lack of education and didn’t believe I was smart enough to write. So I tried to be an actor instead. Fortunately one day an acting teacher told me to get a notepad and put my thoughts into it every day. I did and started writing poems and stories in there instead. They were not so good but I persisted. I definitely had a wider audience in mind, but knew at the time I was not ready for that yet.

In your bio at the end of the book you state that your first poem was published when you were thirty-three. What kept you going all those years? Can you remember the name of your first poem and the circumstances of its publication?

My first published poem was ‘After Midnight’ published by Jack T Marlowe on Gutter Eloquence. Writing for me is not really about getting published. Sure I like it, because people get the chance to read my work, and I definitely write for readers. Though I don’t believe it is necessary to be published to be a writer. If I had never been published at all I would be putting exactly the same into it every day. It is like breathing to me, without it, I would choke. I always saw every page I filled as vitally important to myself, and literature, and still do.

You have worked at a variety of jobs, including security guard, blackjack dealer, clothing salesperson and currently, a deck hand. How has your working experiences shaped your writing?

Work is something I do to get money to live and write. I don’t think any job has had a major influence on my writing.

You lived in the Potts Point/ Kings Cross area for about ten years. What was it like living there and how has it changed since the lock-out laws which restrict the drinking of alcohol in bars and clubs?

Kings Cross, Sydney’s ‘red light’ district, was a good place to live for a writer. I lived there for over 12 years. It was a loose, wild, beautiful place. It has all changed now though, and it is not just the lockout laws: it started happening years before that. It used to be full of outsiders, and few rules, now it is full of surveillance cameras, and safe, conservative, boring people. 

Are you essentially a confessional poet?

I write about what I believe I know, whether that be a personal experience, or someone I knows personal experience, or a fiction created to get across a certain point I have in mind.

How would you describe your style?

Constantly evolving.

Do you have any overall intentions as a writer?

To say the things that need to be said. To be a source of reality in a world of unreality. To keep the tradition of art alive.

One of the best poems in the collection is ‘CRESCENDO’ in which you describe the euphoria you feel in listening to Tchaikovsky’s Suit Number 3. You clearly love music and it helps to sustain you but can you describe the specific context leading up to you writing and editing this poem?

It isn’t actually a poem. It is half a page taken without any editing from an unpublished stream of conscious novella I wrote five years ago over a period of two days. It is not unusual for me to write spontaneously, without much, or any, editing. Most of my stuff comes that way.

The content of the poem is simply a feeling I quite often get when listening to classical music. To me it is the ultimate music, and true art.  

You mention a number of other famous creative artists in your book: Hemingway, Chekhov, Fante, Bach- to name a few of your heroes. You also mention the mixed martial arts fighter Randy Couture. Who else would you include amongst your favourite contemporaries?

Marlon Brando, Evan Tanner, Jackson Pollock, Nick Diaz, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Knut Hamsun, Henry Miller, Francis Bacon, Voltaire, Phillip Glass, and of course Dostoyevsky.

What’s next for you? Do you have any projects presently cooking?

Just keep writing; that’s the important thing.

Thanks for your time Brenton and all the best with your book!

Thanks man. I appreciate your support.