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Flickers
William
Trowbridge
In
his latest collection of poems, William Trowbridge explores
the fascination Americans have with movies, how "flicks" allow
us to temporarily forget our problems and, ironically, to
forget that real conflicts are what make us human. The language
he uses is the American language of pop culture: sports talk,
movie talk, shoptalk, and clichés—all are blended
together into carefully crafted lines that are uniquely Trowbridge's.
Readers will be delighted to follow each poem to its effectively
understated end.
These poems are dark comedies that capture both the eerie
and the ordinary. This balance is not easily achieved, but
like a veteran comedian executing a pratfall, Trowbridge makes
it all seem natural. His surreal family, the Glads, satirizes
life in suburbia and reflects the often absurd margins of
our urban lifestyle. By contrast, a group of poems revolving
around a packing house in Kansas City (Trowbridge worked there
as a young man), reminds us of those darker places in our
lives that exist just "across the street from the ledgers
and lapels."
The
variety of subjects Trowbridge works with is refreshing. Whether
he is writing about Buster Keaton, Fred Astaire, June bugs,
baseball, the holocaust, Cadillacs, or old dogs, his eye is
always focused on the turn of phrase that will catch us off
guard. His well-crafted lines are full of wit and humor. He
approaches his subjects like Coyote approaches Fox—smiling,
ready to expose his dear friend to the reality of his existence
through sleight of hand. And, like Coyote, he teaches us to
laugh at ourselves or perish under the weight of our everyday
lives.
"Trowbridge
has something close to the ideal balance between counting
the streaks of the tulip and being chiefly conversant about
general truth. He is much up on the peculiarities of our little
time in the world."
—Howard
Nemerov
2000
96 pages
$16.95 paper
978-1-55728-586-7 | 1-55728-586-1
William
Trowbridge is Distinguished University Professor
at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri.
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