Joseph Fasano

Fasano's poems are built from lyrical language that swings along with images that are more than capable of haunting one's dreams, and the best ones have an almost eerie ringing of past greats brought back to life--especially in the end of this collection, though the poems are clearly contemporary, there's something of an echo of Gerard Manley Hopkins and his thunderous rhythms. The caveat here is that the best of the poems come in the end of the collection--though I wandered through the first half of Fugue for Other Hands, the second half left me breathless and re-reading, and most of the poems I'll return to are in the last third of the book. For readers who'll devour it whole, that's fine, but if you're reading the work and beginning to think about putting it down, I'd suggest you skip ahead, and perhaps even read backwards, poem by poem. The ones in the back aren't to be missed.

So, although I'd argue that sound is sometimes prioritized over meaning in some of the early poems, I'd still truly recommend the work as a whole, and I'll certainly be willing to check out more of Fasano's work.… (mere)