Two reviews in one by
Jim McGuire

Rock Covers Paper Chella Courington
Triplicity Kristen McHenry

Two books in one, two poets, two reviews. An Indigo Ink Press Flip Side Edition. Which side to start on? Which side is up? I flipped in the air and retrieved Paper Covers Rock by Chella Courington. I begin to read poetry as southern and beyond. The lines are familiar, but new. Language and experience a treat, a wonder. Lynette, Loretta, the Sonic Drive-In in Crossville become people and places of interest.

The flip side

Triplicity by Kristen McHenry

Kristen McHenry moves through diversity of subject and mood finding insight in examination of the everyday self in “A Questionnaire for determining those deserving of care,” to three poems concerning pigs in a section called “Pondering Pigs” in which the subject matter is examined in terms of the human condition. In the final poem in the volume McHenry examines death in “Drowning Girls” where shared experience is expressed in the final line. “All of us who drown belong to one another.”

Both books, both poets a treat for you to flip.

After reading the poems in the first part of Paper Covers Rock, I felt as if I had stumbled upon the journal of a teenage girl who desperately needs to speak to the school nurse and practice slipping condoms on bananas. Needless to say, they didn't resonate with me. However, Courington's poem "Jeopardy", was especially evocative (and strangely personal), and I have returned to it several times since receiving the book.

On the flip side, McHenry's poems take more chances and exhibit more imagination. Her poem, "Spock: A Romance Story", contains the most memorable lines in the last stanza. But, it took me several attempts at reading the poem before I could earnestly make it there. There is just too much prologue and exposition, but there is the occasional payoff: In pig days, we are meticulously / counted and divided by our thickness (from "Slaughtering Season"). ( )

I always find it difficult to formulate my thoughts on why I love a certain collection of poetry, and this book contains two such collections by two fabulous writers. Both these women write about the pain and awkwardness of female adolescence straying into adulthood. Though they are very different writers with very different takes on the world, both writers provide readable and textural poems with darkly playful relevance and depth. They were a good, cohesive pair to put side-by-side. ( )

Disclaimer: I received this book via the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program.

I requested this book for two reasons: I had recently read another chapbook (The Goatfish Alphabet by one of the authors, Kristen McHenry, which I liked) and the cover image (Paper Covers Rock side) is particularly intriguing.

This is part of how it was described: "One snips authentically around the edges of an erotic coming of age tale, then plunges into the heart of what it means to be a woman; the other stabs precisely into the chaos of love, loss and levity – all with complete ubiquity. United in Indigo Ink’s debut “flip” edition, two pointed, poignant poets will cleave you, leave you ragged with their jagged lines and barbed writing."

I read it through in early to mid-September but was struggling with what to say about it. I have now reread it over the last few days and, honestly, I'm still struggling.

In both reads through I began with Paper Covers Rock by Courington and then read Triplicity by McHenry. As a middle-aged man, I was hoping to get some insight, perhaps, or simply some small view into the issues in the above quote as viewed by these poets. In some small way I guess I did but not nearly as much as the marketing tried to sell me.

Paper Covers Rock by Chella Courington

These poems contain some fairly powerful images, some of which seem primarily used for the shock value. While I can empathize with a woman who has lost her baby cutting off her nipples with garden shears (title poem) I am not sure I want to read about it in poetry. This does not mean that it won't be important for someone else to read.

There are several poems involving the budding sexuality of a young teen, including a couple with the sexual experimentation of a 13 year old girl with a girlfriend. These poems have a definite tenderness and help me somewhat understand something which I can never understand (as a man), and although they are left fairly ambiguous they also make me feel somewhat pervy. I am not sure I can explain it but they definitely invoke highly diverse, and disparate, feelings in me.

Triplicity: Poems in Threes by Kristen McHenry

I am not sure that this concept worked so well. I often forgot that the poems were in clusters of threes and I'm not sure how well some of them worked together. While I did enjoy several of these poems, I liked The Goatfish Alphabet better.

All in all, these two books in one were enjoyable but they really weren't for me in the end.

I realize that I had an advance reader copy of this book but I really hope that indigo ink press put more careful attention into the design of the published book. The gutter was far too narrow making all of the poems on versos hard to read. The poems need space to breathe on both of their sides. Also, perhaps some small addition to the McHenry poems could better emphasize the sets of three. There is a device for that already but it didn't really do the job for me.

Two poetry chapbooks in one from Indigo Ink Press: Paper Covers Rock, by Chella Courington and Triplicity: Poems in Threes, by Kristen McHenry.

The chapbook form is one I particularly love. There is a great romantic history behind them as the pamphlets and small booklets of ballads and legends sold by traveling chapmen. And there is so much artistic potential in their diminutive size, their general brevity. But this is the first time I've enc0untered a dual chapbook; and I'm not sure that it does the writers or the work any favors. My favorite attribute of the chapbook is the way it can be used to encapsulate a particular experience. Whereas poetry collections tend to span a greater range of subjects, a chapbook can focus on one of these and capture a single story in a dozen or a couple dozen poems. But with two manuscripts and two different poets vying for attention within the same binding, it feels a bit too crowded here.

But on to the poetry! Chella Courington's title poem "Paper Covers Rock" is probably my favorite from her side of the book. I love the way it plays with the idea of the children's game and that each short section of the five-part poem explores an obsession with the one item not mentioned in the title. Scissors are innocent as physical objects with their utilitarian purposes, but they become frightening when turned on the body. With each section we cut a bit deeper into the speaker's underlying emotional struggles. The image is explored from many angles and to great effect. I would like to see more like this.

I like the idea of grouping these poems into threes, but I'm not sure I'm satisfied with the result in Kristen McHenry's Triplicity: Poems in Threes. Some of the sections work well together. Maybe it's the titles of the sections that I find unsatisfying? I think they might work better as untitled sections, let the reader find the connecting thread for him/herself. I felt a little too guided along, I think, and it left me feeling cluttered. Aside from form, there were many captivating images and phrases to be found here. In "Letter to My Second Sister," the addressed sister is described: "with eyes glass-green and deep as trees," an image that recurs two poems later in "Drowning Girls." But it was a repetition I found soothing and beautiful. In fact, this was probably my favorite section of McHenry's collection, the last but not the least. ( )