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By Lynette G. Esposito
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Marsh Hawk Press has released The In(ter)vention of the Hay(na)ku Selected Tercets 1996-2019 a comprehensive tome of poetry by Eileen R. Tabios The collection is a blend of long, skinny poems with amazing forms, concepts and images in 233 pages.
The comments on Tabios’ work are many. One that catches the unique quality of this collection is from kultureflash. In kultureflash: Headlines from London: —enormous tonal range in her poetry. A breathless intensity may be her most characteristic mode. While tonal is a subjective reaction by the reader to poetic work, this comment works.
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For example, on page eighty-nine:
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Girl Singing
39
Girl singing day when “I”
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is a Verb, the leaf beyond
my bedroom window becomes
a universe of contemplation
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rather than a mere fragment
. at the mercy of a faint breeze.
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The switch from an intellectual comment to the power of nature symbolically represented by a leaf and a breeze shows tremendous poetic skill. The revelation beyond one’s constrained space combined with the change of a pronoun into an action (verb) is an amazing transition into contemplating the universe and the self within it. The tone is both calm and direct.
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This same technique of mixing conceptual suggestions with interpretive imagery can be seen on page 138 in the poem La Loca.
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In the green
morning I
wanted
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to be a
heart. A
heart.
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And at evening’s
end, I
wanted
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to be my
voice
a nightingale.
— LO(R)CA
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The ninety-two stanza poem creates, both in form and image, a sense of self in relationship to time and place. Each stanza is in three lines (tercet) and extends over nine pages. Although long, the poem is well controlled and a pleasure to read.
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Another poem that demonstrates Tabios’ unique poetic abilities is The Ineffability of Mushrooms (A Novella in Verse) on page 192 to196, which tells a storywith the time being prior to war. Tabios uses numbers in groupings of tercets to indicate chapters.
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The ninety-two stanza poem creates, both in form and image, a sense of self in relationship to time and place. Each stanza is in three lines (tercet) and extends over nine pages. Although long, the poem is well controlled and a pleasure to read.
,
Another poem that demonstrates Tabios’ unique poetic abilities is The Ineffability of Mushrooms (A Novella in Verse) on page 192 to196, which tells a storywith the time being prior to war. Tabios uses numbers in groupings of tercets to indicate chapters.
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1
The porcini appeared
under right
conditions:
after heavy rain
soaked warn
earth–
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this desired combination
lovingly labeled
“smoke.”
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The first three stanzas represent the first of five numbered chapters using the tercet stanza form and intermingling conceptual images with reader interpretations. The poem snakes down the page setting up time, place and situation. A symbol enjoying delicious mushrooms ends with a shock. The shock uses the timing of receiving a bag of mushrooms for the last time and the out break of war. The association with a gift and the outbreak of conflict is interesting. Tabios is very skilled.
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…Later in
London, I
received
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each Autumn one
precious, single
bag
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of dried mushrooms
and memories
then
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lingering like smoke.
The last
arrived
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In 1939, shortly
after the
outbreak
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of war
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This poem successfully leads to London and the big changes coming to that city in 1939.
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The book is well organized and the subjects are broad but spring from specific symbols that work both logically and figuratively. Poems vary from three lines to many pages. There is good variety, a little instruction and much to be discussed in this prism of poems that shares so much light
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You can find the book here: https://www.amazon.com/ter-vention-Hay-Selected-1996-2019/dp/0996991166/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=The+In%28ter%29vention+of+the+Hay%28na%29ku&qid=1585345638&s=books&sr=1-1
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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 