Nick Twemlow

Attributed to the Harrow Painter by Nick Twemlow is one of the Kuhl House poets' publications from University of Iowa Press. The Kuhl House series is dedicated to contemporary poets who write outside the usual traditions. Twemlow’s work includes Palm Trees, and his poems have appeared in Court Green, jubilat, Lana Turner, and the Paris Review. He co-edits Canarium Books and is a senior editor at the Iowa Review. He teaches at Coe College and lives in Iowa City, Iowa.

The collection starts with a poem the poet taking his son to a museum and asking the child's opinion of Schnabel’s The Death of Fashion to which the child gives a very expected opinion. The Harrow Painter, likewise a painter but in ancient Greece, is described as minor, but with some charm. That is the life of most. We travel a fairly linear path with some peaks and valleys. Twemlow travels back in his mind and poetry to the high and lower points of life. In particular, his English teacher Mr. C seems much like mine Ms. H in brutality. There are good times with friends and of course experimentation with drugs in his younger days. The poet is holding the future in his hands (his son) and looking at how he arrived at the present, but with an eye still, too, on the future for his son.

Although this collection isn't traditional in form, it is much closer than works like Eric Linsker's La Far. The lines are short but the poems are long. There is a stream of consciousness flow in the poems but it is very structured. Alliteration and a strong rhythm are felt throughout all the lines. The reader can easily get caught up in the rhythm of the writing. A very good collection of experimental poetry that is not too far from traditional poetry or even lyrics.

Available November 1, 2017… (mer)