Llanor Alleyne
Writer | Editor | Artist
New York-based poet Judith D. Angeles’ first chapbook of poems, He Art: Pieces of a Whole is an intensely personal walk through heart break and the agony of healing.
Gathered together by several motifs (food, sheets, tears, screams, smoke) that bind the 13 pieces to each other, He Art opens with the eponymous poem, wasting little time in establishing the over riding theme of the collection. You could have been my end and beginning / of all the sleepless searches for my panties / in the morning, Angeles writes. Mournful, but never bitter, the poem charts the devastation of first love gone wrong, the struggle to “stay afloat” amid a river of tears while building a bridge to safely walk away from the hurt. It is an apt opening salvo, and it sets the tone for the entire collection.
Drawing on recurring metaphors, Angeles further breaks down love’s aftermath to the essentials, which often involve wary sex (“Lets hibernate our hearts / warm up our raw bodies” from the poem, “The Last Supper”) while keeping a critical eye on where it all might lead (“we are as temporary as / the beginning of my last word” from the poem, “Yet”). Angeles, who was a finalist in Urban Word’s 2004 Slam and the winner of Russell Simmon‘s Young Voices Presents Def Poetry, often writes with the ferocity of a spoken word artist and poems like “Running Without Legs” and “Patience Without a Face” show their rhythmic structural roots; these are the ones we want to hear Angeles read out loud to us.
Three of the best poems of He Art abandon the familiar sprawling rat-a-tat of spoken word and apply gentler visual brush strokes, replacing “fierce” with softer emotions that encourage the reader to stay longer. The brevity of “Sunset” (just 14 words long) leaves a breathtaking impression. Both “Harlem’s Rain” — which uses onomatopoeia to sexy effect — and “Punk in the Middle” draw on the urban landscape to add contrast to the conflicting gloom and joy that come during healing.
He Art, Angeles first chapbook, is a great introduction to a poet who, without a doubt, has much more to say.
To learn more about Judith D. Angeles and her work visit her here.
I love the review. Thanks for the sincerity.
Just want to let you know, your great review of the book sent me to the site. I fell in love with the first poem. It’s on my to buy list!