I went into this collection without reading the synopsis and my first impressions were strong: it felt like a magical mystery tour through one person’s experience as it is shaping him. However, it is reflective, being written about in the present with the insight that only comes from being older and more perceptive due to having lived.
I have to say that I really enjoyed it. The opening poem feels like the entryway to a dreamscape with its depictions of the poet’s father’s drugstore in the desert and the way that the poet moves within this setting with Twin Peaks sort of vibes that unsettle and discombobulate.
Then, we move on to something totally different, to a poem strict in form with every line beginning “Bronxville” with a short description of what it offers afterwards, almost like a mantra designed to convince.
This sets the tone: a progression through the poet’s life, an autobiographical odyssey through a period of change and stress and adaptation and these poems form the first part of the collection called “The Subway Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore”. It has the uncertainty of teenager-dom written all over it but it also reads like the literary equivalent of an exhibition full of art installations that are curious to the observer but might not be grasped certainly in their minds on first viewing, or in this case, first reading of them. It is a reading experience that is a little surreal but benignly so.
My favourite in this first part is “Through A Store Window”. It seems to be a poem about a normal misunderstanding of timings on store openings but by the last stanza becomes something entirely different.
The second part is called “Pure Pleasure” and is lighter in tone. It reads like scenes from life, memories and dreams that Stockdale is recalling and recording here for our perusal. They are more like musings and are observational; like “One-Act Play” which is voyeuristic, a vignette of two people’s lives as seen by a detached observer or “Bronxville Train Station” which feels like a movie scene playing out, tinged with love and humour and normalcy.
Overall, this collection was surprising in its content and for me, entirely enjoyable: quirky, imparted with a unique voice which relayed personal experiences and insights in poetical form. Quite refreshing.
Rachel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
This review was first published on Reedsy Discovery where I was privileged to read it as an ARC.
Scuffed Granny 