JOYRIDING TO NIGHTFALL
Colby’s newest collection suggests a subtle shift, a nod to darkness and mortality. The spectacular cover of grinning skeletons in a pickup truck gives a strong hint of what the reader will find inside. The poems are not morbid; rather, an acknowledgment of the need to notice and appreciate everything now, while one can. According to that source of all knowledge, Wikipedia, joyriding refers to stealing a car with the intent to “drive it with no particular goal other than the pleasure or thrill of doing so.” The destination, nightfall, is, of course, the end of the day, the ultimate end being death.
I wasn’t far into the book when I realized that many of these poems could be called list poems. The listing is subtle and may not be recognized at first. “Arson” begins:
A swizzle stick of fury stirs
The act, the match, the cask
of gasoline, sharp as an insult
“Fences” is a bit more obvious, with “ornamental wrought iron balconies,” “white pickets,” and “posts/slathered with creosote.”
Colby is known for her unique comparisons and attention to the seemingly ordinary, and this collection is one of her strongest when it comes to seeing and showing. In “Valentine,” the speaker notices damselflies as they “form a heart shape/ in the wheel of their desire.” Seven marvelous couplets comparing the mating of damselflies to that of humans. And how brilliant for this poem’s form to be couplets-this is what I mean when I say Colby is subtle-the reader needs to read slowly, absorb the lush imagery, let even the form settle in your brain. Everything means something in Colby’s work.
Nature is prevalent, especially in the first 2 sections. The sections are not numbered or named;each begins with a quote. The first section, containing 5 poems about weather, starts with this epigraph from Bob Dylan:
You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
A John Muir quote sets the tone for the second section, with poems about blackflies, bees, squirrels, an opossum, mites, and even a gator.
And the epigraph for the final section, the end of the collection which contains some of the “darker” poems:
Everything has to come to an end sometime
(L. Frank Baum)
Interesting that Colby chose a quote from the world of Oz, a mystical, hallucinatory tale of a dream land filled with winged monkeys, munchkins, and a wizard. Perhaps Colby is nudging readers toward accepting that life is full of these marvelous things, if only we take the time to notice them.
Put on your seatbelt, let Colby take you on a ride, and be prepared to enjoy every minute.
Nina Bennett
I wasn’t far into the book when I realized that many of these poems could be called list poems. The listing is subtle and may not be recognized at first. “Arson” begins:
A swizzle stick of fury stirs
The act, the match, the cask
of gasoline, sharp as an insult
“Fences” is a bit more obvious, with “ornamental wrought iron balconies,” “white pickets,” and “posts/slathered with creosote.”
Colby is known for her unique comparisons and attention to the seemingly ordinary, and this collection is one of her strongest when it comes to seeing and showing. In “Valentine,” the speaker notices damselflies as they “form a heart shape/ in the wheel of their desire.” Seven marvelous couplets comparing the mating of damselflies to that of humans. And how brilliant for this poem’s form to be couplets-this is what I mean when I say Colby is subtle-the reader needs to read slowly, absorb the lush imagery, let even the form settle in your brain. Everything means something in Colby’s work.
Nature is prevalent, especially in the first 2 sections. The sections are not numbered or named;each begins with a quote. The first section, containing 5 poems about weather, starts with this epigraph from Bob Dylan:
You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
A John Muir quote sets the tone for the second section, with poems about blackflies, bees, squirrels, an opossum, mites, and even a gator.
And the epigraph for the final section, the end of the collection which contains some of the “darker” poems:
Everything has to come to an end sometime
(L. Frank Baum)
Interesting that Colby chose a quote from the world of Oz, a mystical, hallucinatory tale of a dream land filled with winged monkeys, munchkins, and a wizard. Perhaps Colby is nudging readers toward accepting that life is full of these marvelous things, if only we take the time to notice them.
Put on your seatbelt, let Colby take you on a ride, and be prepared to enjoy every minute.
Nina Bennett
