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Frank Rutledge’s “The Corner of Tuesday and Happenstance” is a book filled with poetry, stories of life, and wisdoms. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey through many different styles and subject matter. I fell in love with “A Fable of Three Months” with the first line “September is October’s lover left behind.” In “Those Plans That Unravel Quickly” Frank tells the story of many a young man (or woman) trying to find themselves and love along the way. In “Writer” lines like “My sentiments are fenced in by a border of words” tell the tale of every writer and love or words. Night Journey” opens with the beautiful line “Awake in bed just past the gates of midnight.” Every word is magic in “Across the Silvery Surface” I had to re-read it several times. And, in “Creation Myth” … “Morning arrives like a shy guest, soft and under the radar of awakening.” If you like good poetry you will love this book. It is a delight of the imagination and a must read.
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This book is a little gem, wonderful for carrying around for quick glimpses into the human condition. In A Poet's Glossary, Hirsch tells us that haiku, with its primary focus on nature, "...seeks the momentary and the eternal," while senryu, dealing with human nature, is often satiric. Frank Rutledge's Voice in a Whisper, a collection of haiku and senryu poem, is filled with expressions of love, nature appreciation, and whimsy, with asides into music, literature, and art.There is irony in his work, and gasps of sorrow when he chronicles personal loneliness and loss. Some of the poems embody folk wisdom, emanating from his southern roots. He is a musician, as well as a poet, and I hear his music, e.g.,"a pause in our talk/she cries tears-sounds like crickets/over the cell phone." This is a must for poetry collections.
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This Intriguing and Inventive.
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Many of us here at the Cropcircle Collective have been waiting a LONG time for the next release of Frank's poetry. Although he may not consider them "official" releases, he did publish two other chapbooks; Listen Said the Storyteller and a book of haikus called Tiny Lanterns. Until now, there has not been a complete sampling of his more recent and mature style. This release is definitely cause for celebration. Frank used to come up with song title ideas for albums that were never released. From these strange and fascinating song titles came metaphors, from the metaphors came stanzas, and from the stanzas came poems. With Clothed in August Skin, he has managed to simplify, or to distill his ideas without losing any of their magic. I should never expect to hear Frank's is the voice of the inner world of the midwest. His interest in all things unseen permeates this work. There is a nice and natural mix here of Buddhist philosophy, chronicles of the everyday, and love poems. His concentration is on the here and now, in living in the moment. His spirituality and humility comes through in this volume. He speaks with great respect of the nuns who can "swim upstream against the current" and even his cat who puts him to shame with "the best damn immitation of Buddha any human being could ever attempt." There are clever lines here as well, "people who think everything tastes like chicken are the downfall of mankind." In Remember When we get a taste of what I call the classic Rutledge nostalgia (see Wizards of Sandwich Illinois in the poems section of this website for another example): Summer used to last a lifetime then After a History of Being Alone, there is a deep appreciation for the love of his wife and an everyday domesticity. It's like the ending of Fargo when Francis McDomand's artist husband holds her close and they realize they don't have it so bad compared to most people. Frank is still the dreamer, whiling away the evenings in a good book, but now with the comfort of another to hold close and to just know she's there. What really impressed me the most about Clothed in August Skin was the completeness and power of the last two poems Our Disappearing Act and End Piece: We are two ghosts End Piece finishes with an admonition to savor what good can be found in the world. Religious zealots often justify destroying the earth in the greedy pursuit of a perfection that may not even exist. It's a lazy kind of spirituality that allows us to close our eyes to the beauty among the rubble. It's easy to relieve oneself of responsibility for making this world work. When we see things in black and white, we don't have to think as hard, and consider the grays. What a waste to throw away this life and all the beauty it has to offer, regardless of whether or not there is an afterlife. Getting wrapped up in a copy of Clothed in August Skin is certainly a worthwhile way to spend a few hours of one's precious time on this planet.
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