Jack Galmitz, Yellow Light, Yet To Be Named Free Press, 2013, PDF edition, 66 pages.
Yellow Light
is a stunning collection of short verse tackling the subject of mental
illness. Galmitz cleverly leads the reader down a seldom-trodden path,
and like a tour guide of the mind, points out the landmarks of a
troubled psyche. His use of rich imagery draws the reader in but in no
way disturbs or upsets, he simply tells us a story, one that is often
overlooked, forgotten and avoided.
....
And there’s Yellow Light, a book of micro-poems (some might say haiku;
blurring the lines). A useful work for inspiration, regarding
mutability. Each one-line poem is centered on its page, perfectly
encapsulated—though the poems bleed through each other, via idea, image,
structure, image. Just below, five serial pages are presented (with
apologies to the author):
under the moon we were married by the moon’s rules
on the staff the notes are birds
grandfather walked through the tides
crumpled paper music
the minah bird squawks “same to you, pal”
Some of the poem(s) has/have appeared as haiku in the Roadrunner Haiku Journal:
under the pillow lute strings slit by the minstrel
descendent of a star that co-existing
Jack
utilizes strong forms of disjunction (cognitive derangement,
discompletion), incidentally challenging the haiku form, or simply
presenting innovative ideas in brief poetry. Yellow Light also includes
two short (single, long) paragraph prose pieces, and visual-poem
selections. The genre-bending fluidity of formal structures is also
tightly organized, hinting at narrative threads. But thoughts reach out
merely to brush virtual worlds, whether alarmingly or disarmingly. Left
to themselves: each is a page yet to be named. In the volume’s
introduction Brendan Slater comments, “Looking at the world in a way
that the mentally healthy may often find difficult”; those involved in
“H21” haiku (the new “21st century” styles) should have little problem
with the disjunctive modes Jack plies. Topics concern moments of
noticing: moments of precisely-honed attention. Some lines so brief
(temporally, formally) they seem to flit through the peripheral corners
of sight.
--- excepted from "Jack Galmitz -- Experiments in Languaged Obliquity" by Richard Gilbert
Why doesn't anyone ever comment? It is strange to me the lack of response to the work of Chen-ou as well as myself (not to mention Prof. Gilbert).
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