Category: Death Poetry

On Jack Foley’s CREATIVE DEATH

By: Iván Argüelles

Though I wrote some introductory words for this book, I’d like to talk about the book itself. First of all, I like the title, Creative Death, why not ! Leave it to Jack Foley to tease us with these antithetical words. The contents of this particular creation are the expected amalgam and mix of themes and styles that have characterized Jack’s poetry over the decades: old radio shows, vaudeville, the American music of that great coterie of composers such as George M. Cohan and George Gershwin, and not the least his own brand of often experimental verse. Jack, if nothing else, comprehends the traditions of poetry, both modern and traditional. There is much diversity in this collection to relish, nothing ever imitates itself here. Juxtapositions abound, and make for startling moments. I especially like the poem, UKRAINE, written in a long angular style with short lines. It begins:

             drops fall

                           my love

             from the faucet

                            has gone from me

             rain defines us

Each of these terse lines has its own unexpected strength, and the overall syntactic distortion is powerful to say the least. Hard to find such poetry currently in this work-shop driven milieu.  Something new is an innovation Jack has created sets of poems called Pairings, interesting in their total juxtapositions and similarities. Jack’s claim to fame may well be the immense 2-volume set, Visions & Affiliations: California Poetry 1940-2005, as daring and enterprising an undertaking as can be imagined, a chronology/time-line and anthology both; it ought to be text-book reading for graduate seminars. So it is no accident that Jack honors and understands other poets and poetries as well, such as Michael McClure or Larry Eigner in the pages of this exceptional text. Overriding the various styles and themes is the underlying dictum of death, particularly the death of his wife of so many decades, Adelle. These poems are indeed “an octogenarian’s wordshop,” plunging the reader into a sometimes uncomfortable encounter with Creative Death. Among the many gems, one long poem should be highlighted, RATTALK, with its relentless and oddly related/unrelated “prose” sentences and syntax:

                   “The silence and whiteness of the page”

                    “Not collage: collision!”

                    “JESUS AS HENNY YOUNGMAN”

Such lines (picked at random) may sum it all up. Highly recommended reading.