A Daily Glance
Susan Tichy's Gallowglass is a contemplative book that concerns many themes, but one of the most prevalent for me centers around how to react to/live with the present violent arenas related to U.S. interests**. She weaves this theme in with other unrelated ideas as if to suggest it is a presence (or should be) of daily life. Since so many U.S. poets avoid direct political commentary, I'm glad to see it here, but even here, we don't get a clear political line--Tichy seems to be pointing to the presence in the room and suggesting some reaction.
On the radio I though they said, 'The way the war is disinfected.'
So I turned the page over and found it blank.
Was. Was. Was. Was, the made poet said. But the president says no,
That poet wasn't mad. That poet understood the rent collector.
Rats run closely along a wall, the wall and body always touching.
If you tear the wall down, rats run closely along the wall's memory.
Ultimately, these poems show someone looking for a direction for us all while at the same time trying to show a clear understanding of what is happening now. The individual poems are well-crafted, and they raise interesting questions, but they are still searching, and I suppose they are asking us, without actually asking us, to keep searching as well.
**I can only assume that this military theme is why the book is named after the gallowglass of Scotland.
Comments