Our Poetry Editor, Irene Willis, is on book leave and will be back with a new column in April. I am posting this review of her recently published book, and a poem from it, for you to enjoy.
A Review of REHEARSAL by Irene Willis (IP Books.net)
The emotional center of Irene Willis’ first-rate book REHEARSAL is a love story. It’s about her husband who died and her courageous recovery of herself. The short poems are in free verse with striking images. My favorite is, fittingly the last, an ironical comment on her end.
GETTING TO CHOSE
But who gets to choose this ordered end
-Maxine Kumin
Trying to will an ordered end
I’m mucking out the garage
where old manuscripts are stored
with books, journals, magazines,
old photographs of boyfriends,
husbands, friends’ kids, mine.
My bed and board can’t survive
this hoard, nor can I abide
leaving it to my only child to sort
and deal with, short of tossing
it all or calling the junkman
and stuffing what remains
Into the garbage bag for shredding–
if shredding isn’t too dear —
but junk won’t keep me here.
My ordered end will be
as sparse as I can make it–
the devil take it!
-Frederick Feirstein