Most people are quite predictable. Creatures of habit, repeating repetitive ideas of normality, scared to step outside of the box they have labeled themselves. Most of us, are comfortable with our limitations and comforted by them.
Reading a great book of poetry is meeting the person who pushes each day outside of the realm of yesterday. While most of us awake each day to the resemblence of yesterday, the daring search for opportunities to change.
In Nathaniel Mackey's
Splay Anthem, I found my daring companion. (Oh faithful is the poet who knows he can whisper louder than he screams.)
Splay Anthem is an experience within two ongoing serial poems
Song of the Andoumboulou and "Mu". Mackey's binary star is a beautiful fusion of the the griot's message with the griot's drum. Rhythm and alliteration.
Makey's collection is the patriach, esteemed professor and community elder who who tells his stories two to five pages at a time. There is so much bound to each page, that one must study for weeks before returning to hear the same two paged story again, with new understanding.
Mackey, I want to know why the Moor sighs and inevitably why the Andoumboulou sings. I want to meet the people of Nub, and ask if they know where they are? Can I hear Nazakat and Salamat? Can I see Sekmet?
And so I return to Splay Anthem with questions. I recieve answers to some, others I must wait for. I am moved by the rhythm but not comforted by it. The rhythm jolts me out of my comfort zone. I am forced to read, reread and reexamine. Enjoyment is no longer an idle excercize.
