{"id":509,"date":"2018-01-13T10:15:16","date_gmt":"2018-01-13T15:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/?p=509"},"modified":"2018-01-13T10:15:16","modified_gmt":"2018-01-13T15:15:16","slug":"review-of-mercy-songs-by-kai-carlson-wee-and-anders-carlson-wee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/?p=509","title":{"rendered":"Review of Mercy Songs by Kai Carlson-Wee and Anders Carlson-Wee"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Mercy Songs. <\/em>Kai Carlson-Wee and Anders Carlson-Wee. Diode Editions, 2016. 31 pgs. $12.00.<\/p>\n

Mercy Songs<\/em> is an unusual collaboration between brothers, Kai and Anders Carlson-Wee. The twenty-two poems alternate between the two authors\u2014so it is the collection rather than the poems themselves that is collaborative\u2014but thematically, imagistically, and even stylistically, the poems are closely linked. Many of the poems are composed in comparatively long lines arranged into a single extended stanza. The language is accessible yet sonically attractive. They are set on and around freight trains and railroad tracks, with the first-person speakers not exactly plural but often speaking of (if not as) \u201cwe\u201d and poems written by each author referring to \u201cmy brother.\u201d The concept and strategy of this chapbook is therefore (I think) unique, but its success depends on what every other collection depends on\u2014the quality of the poems themselves.<\/p>\n

The title poem (by Kai) opens with these sentences:
\nHe heard them in the weight room, in the white
\nexpanse of the courtyard covered in snow,
\nthe way it reminded him always of Sundays,
\nwaking up late in the empty apartment at noon,
\npulling his socks on, holding a cold can
\nof Steele Reserve to his chest. He heard them
\nin the mess hall, in the empty machine shop walls,
\nthe drone of the late-night stations on faith,
\nthe pop of the ping-pong ball in the background,
\nthe gorgeous prayers of Emmanuel Paine
\nwhen he really got going, when he drowned out
\nand slipped into tongue\u2026<\/p>\n

The title here, \u201cMercy Songs,\u201d is crucial to understanding the poem, but what is most impressive is how the imagery becomes so auditory and how the word choice creates auditory impressions for the reader, until the reader begins to hear mercy songs in the language of the poem, just as the speaker hears them in the noises of the day. Many of the poems in this collection rely on alliteration as a primary aural device, the most extended example here being \u201cpop of the ping-pong ball\u2026prayers of Emmanuel Paine.\u201d The poem becomes nearly a litany, but its rhythm and content are both so interesting because of the specificity of the list\u2014\u201cthe weight room,\u201d \u201cthe mess hall,\u201d \u201cthe empty machine shop walls,\u201d \u201cthe late night stations on faith,\u201d which is the first overt reference to the religious content of traditional mercy songs. The list continues with items that seem ordinary until we come to \u201cthe high-pitched scuff of the bald guard\u2019s boot.\u201d This guard is<\/p>\n

\u2026The one who wore crosses
\nand belted out Lowly, My Savior and Sinnerman
\nthe way Nina Simone had sung it live
\nat the Winterland Ballroom in \u201875\u2026<\/p>\n

The description of this guard occupies the center of the poem, which quickly returns to daily details until we reach the final transcendent sentence:<\/p>\n

But mostly, he heard them in the private hours
\nof waiting to fall asleep, when everyone else was alone
\nin their dreams and the whole penitentiary seemed
\nto be floating, like one of those city-sized cruise ships
\nyou take to the Arctic, or Cape of Good Hope,
\nor those Indian islands with lions and dragons
\nwhere pirates had one time divided their treasures
\nand slept in the mouths of caves.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t absolutely know the setting for the poem until this last sentence, and it is here that readers understand why mercy songs might be so necessary. The speaker experiences this rare moment of privacy as he listens to the night noises while everyone else sleeps. The night is so peaceful that it almost feels free: \u201cthe whole penitentiary seemed \/ to be floating.\u201d The references to lions and dragons and pirates make it seem almost magical until we remember that no, it\u2019s a prison.<\/p>\n

Many of the poems in Mercy Songs <\/em>function this way, surrounding the harsh reality they describe with the pleasurable music of language.<\/p>\n

The next poem, \u201cMuscles in Their Throats,\u201d (by Anders) contains a reference near its beginning that directly connects it to \u201cMercy Songs.\u201d Initially, its content seems quite different from most of the other poems, but as the poem develops, it reveals its true subject: language. Here is the beginning:<\/p>\n

The Neanderthals tracked mammoths through the snow.
\nPostholed twice between each of the creature\u2019s
\nblue-hued prints. Peered down at the toe digs, hoping
\nfor any fissures in the powder that might be a sign
\nof weakness. Nightmares larger than the caves
\nthey slept in.<\/p>\n

As soon as we reach that fifth sentence, we recognize that the two poems are connected, though not as obviously as the repeated reference to sleeping in caves might suggest. \u201cMuscles in Their Throats\u201d is not about imprisonment, though it may be about mercy. The speaker imagines these Neanderthals hunting, cooking, and eating, likely eating together, but \u201cwe don\u2019t know for certain how much they could say \/ to each other.\u201d Could they speak? Did they have language? In this, perhaps they are radically different from modern humans. But no, the poem suggests:<\/p>\n

\u2026It\u2019s no different now. My brother
\nstrips boughs off the wind-stunted pines at treeline
\nand stacks them on a boulder\u2026<\/p>\n

Our resemblance to Neanderthals doesn\u2019t depend on their hypothetical ability to use language. Rather, our language does not solve our inability to communicate, even with someone as close as a brother. The middle third of the poem describes the speaker and his brother attempting to build a shelter. Then it returns to a consideration of Neanderthal anatomy, which suggests that it\u2019s possible they did speak. We can\u2019t know now, but perhaps soon we will: \u201cWhen scientists \/ finish a life-size model of the esophagus, we\u2019ll finally hear \/ what their voices must have sounded like.\u201d This poem is thematically complex. It is skillfully crafted, like every other poem in the collection, which is a good thing because these writers have something to say.<\/p>\n

Kai and Anders Carlson-Wee have mastered many of the strategies of poetic craft. For that reason, their work appeals to me as a poet. And the poems themselves are remarkably compassionate. For that reason, they appeal to me as a human being.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mercy Songs. Kai Carlson-Wee and Anders Carlson-Wee. Diode Editions, 2016. 31 pgs. $12.00. Mercy Songs is an unusual collaboration between brothers, Kai and Anders Carlson-Wee. The twenty-two poems alternate between the two authors\u2014so it is the collection rather than the poems themselves that is collaborative\u2014but thematically, imagistically, and even stylistically, the poems are closely linked. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-areviewaweek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=509"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":512,"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions\/512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}