Sonofabitch Poems is the first collection of poetry by Canadian author R L Raymond. What impresses me most of all about this book is the unified vision, from the dynamic exterior created by Raymond, to the Impressionist poems that comprise the collection. Everything works together, making the collection (taken as a whole) stronger than any of the poems considered individually.
The exterior of R L Raymond’s Sonofabitch Poems reminds me of the walls in the hatchet scene from the movie Seed : with thick red globs of blood, bits of brain and skull, oozing from unseen wounds in the wallpaper. This dark, menacing imagery fits well with the quote by Raymond on the back cover: "Not many men danced anymore / especially not in this type of joint / where thugs would rather stare and spit / than ask your name and shake your hand"
This is the scene; here is the doorway; all you need to do is walk through into the unflinching landscape of violence that Raymond has invented.
Sonofabitch Poems - Not many men danced anymore
Raymond writes poems like novels – if novels were lives that could be smashed against a wall in anger and pieced back together in the morning. In the poem, “La chasse-galerie,” for example, we are presented with a man who “borrowed her car,” went out “for smokes,” a sun that is now “setting,” a woman who threatens to be “the real devil,” and it’s framed within what could well be the beginning of a curse or spell: "Sac-a-tabi / Sac-a-tabac"
The opening poem, “A Whelping Box,” portrays an argument between husband and wife about whether or not their baby should sleep alone or in the bed with them. It culminates in the baby “breathing slowly” in “the king-size bed,” the mother “disgusted by his comment” about “the spartans,” and the father sleeping alone “in the guest bedroom” while “dreaming about his baby girl that smelled of cinnamon.”
What is interesting about this poem is not only how it is constructed, but what depth of feeling that construction evokes in the reader. We have all been here, in one way or another, but rarely have we experienced it from every angle. Here, as elsewhere, we are presented with many perspectives and left to place value as we will.
Alchemy - where the brush ends and the flowers begin
Raymond’s poetry reminds me of the Impressionist school of art where everything is presented in broad strokes – where “the bigger picture” only comes into focus when the viewer gets involved in the process of creation. This splash of red, smear of green, elbow buried in the canvass approach is most evident in the poem “Officer and Gentleman.” Here we are presented with a woman who wanted “diamonds” that were “never tainted with blood,” a pimp taking his beating “stoically / just as he expected from his girls,” a cop, after pocketing the pimp’s diamond ring, throwing one final punch “straight into [the pimp’s] face” while wondering “who could reset / the stones into earrings.”
As a storyteller, Raymond is a disinterested eye diving in and out of the narrative at will – bunching his fist in the canvass and smearing the paint together. You always understand the scene exactly as it is laid before you – but it requires your active involvement in the creative process for the poem to really work.
This is where the real strength in Raymond’s poetry lies. As I search for words to describe exactly what is happening in these poems, the only descriptive term that really fits is “alchemy.” You read these seemingly disjointed images, but by the time you’ve reached the final line, that “a-ha” moment has struck and you’re left to marvel at Raymond’s wit and craftsmanship.
Sonofabitch Poems is a book to be admired in the same way that we admire the Impressionists – beyond the reds, greens and yellows that initially appear as disjointed colors, there is a “bigger picture” waiting beyond mere paint – to envelope us in a landscape that is pure magic.
Source
- Raymond, R L, Sonofabitch Poems, 2011
