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Open Books: Events
October 07, 2009 07:30 PM
JAMES BERTOLINO & DAVID RIGSBEE
In James Bertolino's latest book, Finding Water, Holding Stone ($18 Cherry Grove), lyrical poems expressing warm, natured-based wisdom are gathered with others that present a grim vision of existence. His writing is immediate and persuasive. Nature changes the poet, as with the fungus resembling "an old face, which holds / the expression of that moment when // defeat gains the depth / of a lesson learned. / Then my mind is silenced / by forest gone beyond // pattern." These are mature poems; Bertolino willingly shares all experience -- "something is changing shape // and I've heard it's my heart."
The poetry in Two Estates ($18 Cherry Grove), David Rigsbee's recent book, approaches art, artists, and the rich materials of Mediterranean Europe, its landscape, history, and omnipresent religious influences, with a stately tone. His imagery is layered -- "church bells... hover / in consciousness the way bees / slog away at the last sprigs / of wisteria." Time, in many of these pieces, is not a fixed point -- "[I] walk to the ledge where my father / the evening greets me in the darkening / branches of a pine." Rigsbee's voice is like that of a docent's, confidently directing the reader's eye and mind.
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