Michelle Bitting

This is a moving book of poetry. I found myself immersed in many of the poems. Although I couldn't much relate to the wife/love side of things (I've sort of renounced romance/true love over the past several years...cynical, I know), I very much related to the poems about family and motherhood.

This poem about the importance of family is one of my favorites...

GOLD RING

The one with big and small diamonds
on my left ring finger
belonged to Grandma
everybody comments on it
quite stunning
and kind of ugly, too
the way a grandma ring can be
a bit clunky and overwrought
the gems have a story
the grubby tiny ones
from their original engagement
on the California coast
north of Malibu
that place where two giant rocks
come to a head
and the surf tumbles around
the gods inside
at war with each other
he said, I love you, Doll
he said that
and how could she not answer?
all they had
this thing they were making up
other stones came
from a wedding band
one for each anniversary
(their 25th, their 50th)
the large "bling" jewels
you could say
and all of it
deconstructed, reconstructed
like marriage goes
bound up
in one crazy sculpture
when she died
he gave it to me
we stood in the blue bedroom
where she took the last terrible gasps
sailed off
on a sea of silent dreams
he opened the drawer and said
Seventy five years, seventy-five years
I don't know what I'll do
without her
and pressed the ring
into my palm
all that preciousness
my grandpa never talked much
until she got sick
and then I visited regularly
though she hardly knew me anymore
he was glad for the company
and the words tumbled out
now I come all the time
we sit in his backyard
talking about birds
about his roses
he tends with such care
and the bright red feeder
swinging over our heads
glitters in the sun
its perfect geometry
sugar and water mixed
for the hummingbirds
the moment they sip
so sweet they can't resist
coming back for more

Such a touching poem of familial legacy and love. Beautiful.

This next one speaks to me of motherhood, of wanting the best for your child, and your heart breaking over the rejection they might inevitably receive. We mothers with our unconditional love for them...sometimes we can't quite grasp the thought of everyone not loving them as we do. Side note: A holiday, Valentine's Day, which I hate, that can make someone painfully aware of their aloneness and of being rejected, especially for adolescents.

LUPERCALIA

The ides of February are brutal,
Love's sticky sentiments
gumming up the air
make it harder
to breathe. Gilded truffles
snug in their cellophane tombs
dare you to pluck them
from underneath
and eat. Hearts dangle
in pharmacy windows
pretending to pump real red.
Brutal for a boy who feels
but won't say
what it is to be sixteen
and never one secret admirer,
never a glitter doily
or silver Hallmark
waxed with lipstick's
smoky kisses. What ghost
can this mother conjure?
What diaphanous caress?
When in Rome
and if long ago, I could run
naked through alley ways,
my breasts swinging
like fevered trolls,
like devil bells bared,
tolling resident evil. I could
don a goat-skin cap,
carry my pot
of flames to the desert,
burn salted meal-cakes
with vestal virgins
and raise them
to the stars,
to dead crows
and broken Caesars. But
it wouldn't change the fact
of his incomplete beauty,
how girls turn away
when he opens his mouth to speak
a sound less than smart.
Won't change the fact
of his gawky bust
and uncommon sense,
an art far too wild
and no longer cradled
in the cave of a darkened living room,
where once we rocked
and he suckled, at times, stopped
to let glide
the nipple from his mouth
and look up at me,
just look at me...
his future,
his mother
and unconditional lover,
his only Valentine.

Yup, this one had me in tears. Mothers will understand.

Moving, poignant, illuminating. Words I would use to describe this wonderful book of poetry.

(I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review)… (plus d'informations)

”The Couple Who Fell To Earth” is a poetry collection written by Michelle Bitting.
The poetry collection consists of 5 different sections, which are all connected to a certain theme, e.g. the titles; Earth, Heart, Immanent, Body, Wind and finally, an epilogue.

When you as a reader glance through the contents, it wakes up your senses and makes your interest grow. All of the different poems’ titles fit the sections they are divided into, and it’s very interesting to see how Beginnings is a reference to Earth, and Aphrodite in Los Angeles fits the theme of Wind.
I have always been really fascinated by poetry and what it does to the soul. How can one not read poetry? How can one not love it?

To me, poetry is everything and still undefined. I love the classic poetry – the love and the suffering, and I am amazed of how contemporary poetry is still able to show the same aspects of life, love and humankind. Even if it’s done with modern descriptions, it clearly still shows an aspect of the certain time which we live in today.

“heat of the noble
night that will carry us,
tongue and thigh
entwined and shuddering
against our own coming history” (from The Goods)

Poetry sets my mind going. What does life do the modern human being? How does love affect us? How does suffering influence our mind? I found it very interesting to see how this poetry collection was divided into sections (although I know, this is not the most important bit to show you, literature lover, in a review!)
BUT the sections reflect basic universal elements, e.g. earth and wind, which we naturally connect to water and fire. Furthermore, there are two sections that deal with heart and body.
... The question now is, if we divide these two or if we combine them? Can love live vicariously through the heart or does it need “some help” from the body?
Do we really feel love in our veins or do emotions allow us to feel this way?

“where I inevitably fall

and never mind the drowning. 

Where my pendant heart gleams

beneath grassy cliffs

and opaque plummet, 

the drowsy waves that beckon 

as the lighthouse sways

between the buttons, 

beaming its code 

from a conflicted core 

that warns:
it’s not always becoming

to follow yourself home” (from Nemesis Necklace)

The writing style is very interesting and must be mentioned. In the poetry, there are a lot of nouns, often connected to everyday life, and often very descriptive, so it makes it easier for the reader to visualize the situations, feelings or actions described. It may seem simplified, although it is complicated in the poetry’s composition. Furthermore, there are many sensuous descriptions that allow the reader to remember, visualize its own memories and imagine scenarios, myths or ancient history. The following elements are mentioned, e.g. authors, history through time, ancient history, important authors and philosophers, Greek mythology, legends, etc.

A poem that really blew me away was The Couple Who Fell To Earth. While reading it, I was extremely impressed by the poet’s ability to make the reader: 1) lose its breath, 2) be completely drawn into the literary universe and 3) truly experience the cruel temptation of what love does and how it conquers.

“And to think we slept through it all,
though the dream kept smacking us
with every surge of the sea’s cold blade.
We are the lion
and the lamb,
the tooth in the flesh,
flaming halo and silken curl,
the wounded bird and coming ecstasy,
this kingdom we’ve built till death do us part” (from The Couple Who Fell To Earth)

I could keep going on (and on… and on… and on!) about how poetry affects us when we read it. Poetry makes us feel, suffer, reflect and allows us to reminiscence. This poetry collection is certainly symbolizes of great poetry itself; symbolism, metaphors, puns, detailed research, historical and mythological references which support the written words, and finally, an imagination that is shining like thousands of small stars in the sky.

Michelle Bitting has done an amazing job with this poetry collection and I will definitely spread the word about this magical experience I just had. It’s as if I was the single which fell to earth “looking up saw the still dark sky lit with a few bright stars” (from Epiphany II)… (plus d'informations)