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By Lynette G. Esposito
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Jefferson Navicky uses the technique of short prose poems in his book, Antique Densities published by Deerbrook Editions,Cumberland, ME The volume is divided into five sections and an introduction. In the introduction, Navicky calls his poems parables.
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I call the pieces “parables” not because of some ancient moral lesson each one possesses, but rather in honor of Wisdom: 100 Modern Parables (edited by Howard Schwartz 1998).
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The tome is skillfully structured to reflect the theme of each of the five sections: Books, Maps, City Directories, Transcripts of Oral History and Special Collections. In the first section, the poems deliver observations about books. They are set forth in a form that resembles paragraphs, but each seem to have a beginning, middle and end much like a short story. On page eighteen he offers a short one stanza poem entitled A Book.
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Oblivion recorded, she made her way back. The road, pocked. Her eyes: vacant. En route, she bought, from a boy in rags, a box. In it. she put all she’d seen, her dust, her dreams, jealousies of all kinds, gone ambitions and the small bits of hope she had left.
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It feels as if the poem is unfinished. Navicky is deliberate in this so the reader feels that shred of hope that leads the narrator forward.
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On pages forty to forty-two, Map of the Provinces in the Maps section, is divided into nine sections with a title for each. The technique to title the stanzas is interesting and provides focus and direction to the poem, The last stanza is titled Epilogue and pulls the poem together.
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The map was given to me as a parting gift from a friend who was moving across country to attend seminary. She told me this map had been waiting for me. It was, she said a map the Jesuits used in the early days in Mexico to further their missionaries. She pressed the square block of wood in my hand saying, make your own story.
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In City Directories, Navicky continues the story in the poem Trains to the Provinces on page forty-seven.
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The one-stanza twenty-eight-line poem leads the reader both away from the station and back in one swift turn. This poem sets up the rest of this section for travel to other places such as of Mexico City and Carsonville.
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The poems in this ninety-eight-page volume are narrative with a conversational low-key tone.The reader does not always anticipate where the poem is going but Navicky controls the pace and message of the verse so the endings of the poems are logical and meaningful. The reader needs to pay particular attention to the punctuation because it controls much of the precise meaning. The book is a good read.
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Antique Densities is available from www.deerbrookeditions.com
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Lynette G. Esposito has been an Adjunct Professor at Rowan University, Burlington County and Camden County Colleges. She has taught creative writing and conducted workshops in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Mrs. Esposito holds a BA in English from the University of Illinois and an MA in Creative Writing and English Literature from Rutgers University.
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North of Oxford 