The Importance of Being Oscar

12/21/2011

Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting a British author, Oscar Sparrow, by way of his blogging an eloquent review of one of my books (for which I am forever grateful). Intrigued by his astounding mind and wordsmithery on that review, I treated myself to a copy of his own book from Amazon, to further investigate what I expected to be some pretty amazing poetry. His work has far exceeded my expectations, in fact, and I would also rank him among the greats in terms of the spoken word. He is indeed mesmerizing. If there is any doubt, listen to him read Theo Marzials' poem "A Tragedy", purportedly the world's "worst poem":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfXSQ9wj3AI&feature=youtu.be

Oscar's website is: http://oscarsparrow.wordpress.com/

I posted the following review of his book to the Amazon site.

While reading Oscar Sparrow's book of poetry, "I Threw A Stone", I felt as if I had traveled into the inner workings of the author’s mind – a vast, impatient, exquisitely inquisitive mind. Within, it seems any moment can be caught and brought to light, and by the act of being caught, turned into something palpable and permanent. Expertly wrought and forged from the authentic iron of experience, the author's tight, terse lines are rife with vivid imagery that appear culled from his daily life, yet are transformed into something mysterious, surprising, and utterly profound. The fact that the book comes with an mp3 of the author reading these poems aloud allows the reader to achieve an even higher level of nirvana while reading. Amazing.

Cutting across it are ruminations on nature, mortality, love and society, and we will not, perhaps, understand a few of the book’s private allusions and might even be perplexed, but we are left with the notion that we have just heard some timeless truth from the lips of the gods and are humbled to merely be in their presence. Like dreams, these poems are filled with sharp dog-leg turns in the middle of what is expected, so to read Sparrow is to simply trust and allow oneself to be carried along.

The author could never be accused of cranking out fat, corpulent poems that expire from their own heft. This writing is thoughtful, lean, nuggety and deep, a jab to all the senses. A poet who can turn a roadside car problem into high art at the altar is worthy of respect, indeed. An ordinary crow becomes a stark shiv of terror, yet one could find his bittersweet paean to Oscar Wilde to be mildly amusing. Phrases like "herring red alert", "curled and furled to the knot of your dread", "a moon frost of tiny sufferings". Then "a world squeezes out from its tube of pigment" and there you have it. These words will echo in your mind long after you put the book down for the night...and all the next day. Here are a few more just to tease: "the glint and sweep of shoal and hands on nets", "drinkers piss al fresco unperturbed", "What does the me ever know of the you?" Delicious.

Readers attracted to courageous, erudite poems with existential undercurrents will find a great deal here to love. Wilde and Edith Piaf would be proud, indeed, of their namesake. In "I Threw A Stone", we must trust in the power of refreshing wit, spare elegance and poetic inclusiveness, just as we would trust in the force of a river that catches roots, branches, and soil as it moves across the earth. Oscar Sparrow is that force.

I THREW A STONE
http://www.amazon.com/I-threw-a-stone-ebook/dp/B006LLEULC

Comments

Oscar Sparrow link

12/22/2011 1:31pm

Your words are so touching - and like you I take them as a genuine validation of my small struggle with language. I must confess that when I saw the first few lines of "From this far time" I knew that there was someone out there who could do with poetry what I wanted it to do. I know that you know the joy of those sudden insights - those "plowmule of the dragging days" in your case and those "moonfrosts of tiny sufferings" in mine. These moments are the fix - the zizz - the "gotcha cornered" utterly joyful moments of my life when you pull something out of the teasing mist just before it dashed back to the safety of everyday, every way and pay day. I often read poets writing about "poetry" as if it were something official, agreed upon and produced. I think editors love these guys. I never hear them say that they saw a buskers face in the metro and wanted to punch themselves because they could not pin it down to five words,but they knew it was there to be said. All the sonnet forms, internal rhymes, assonances et al mean little to me. When you have that truth, it writes itself in the form it has to have. It is the human soul stumbling ahead of itself and running back with a handful of words, like maybe a fistful of fleece to explain a sheep to a blind man.
I'm afraid that my collection was never written with a view to a non English audience and there must be several baffling cultural references. Radio Foreplay is a swipe at posh culture on Radio Four here in the UK.
Since I did not buy you poetry on Amazon USA I cannot get my review out for about another 24 hours. They have this rule that a UK purchaser can only access the UK site. I think I have gotten around the issue and will let you know when it is up.
I cannot thank you enough for your comments. I'll be watching your blog and reading the back numbers. My very best wishes to you for a creative 2012. Oscar.

Jo VonBargen link

12/22/2011 2:56pm

Best wishes and thank you to you as well. Oscar. I remain very thankful that our paths have crossed! I worried when I read about the UK restrictions, but have looked at Amazon UK and my review of your book is indeed there, just further down the page, so all is well. Am so enjoying your poems; I discover something new every time I reread! Many thanks for hours and hours of pure joy!

Oscar Sparrow link

12/26/2011 9:31am

Hi Jo, Amazon in USA will not let me review "From This Far Time" because we Brits are only allowed on the UK site. I will be posting on the UK site, but I bought the download via Gallo- Romano since I did not have an account. Once I have been verified I will be able to post in my own name. The following is what I will post once my account has been verified. Please feel free to add this review to the dot com site - or indeed, anywhere else. Best Wishes, Oscar.

Much of what I read quickly washes away in the everyday rain. Often I have thought that this was due to my poor attention span. As I set down "From This Far Time" after a first reading I realised that so much of it had stuck that this was a work of exceptional quality. The scope of the poet is huge as she catalogues the history, horrors, banal greeds, politics and selfishness of mankind. Her aim is simply to tell a future society where we failed in the hope that they can do better. Her poetry is stark and pruned yet laced with image and insight that stay in the mind of the reader long after the book is closed. Each reading provides new favourites but let me quote a few "A glissando of slow subterraneans -" leads away from the unconscious mud of unformed life. "Plowmule sky of dragging days" takes us to the harsh truths of slavery and apartheid. "No law can transform what the soul hasn't learned" says the poet in a comment on the facile belief that more laws would mean more truth or more justice. On the subject of competitive sabre rattling she holds up the image "One must never be other than Alpha/In a yipping pack of wolves!"
Few could contradict the facts set out by this poet. She gives examples that stand as specimen charges hammered onto the indictment without compromise. The final hope arises not from the desire within mankind to change, but in the power of the poet to create imagery so memorable that it changes the course of thought. Whether you are looking for the message or the poetry, by reading this work you will get both. And you will remember the experience. You cannot afford not to read "From This Far time."

Jo VonBargen link

12/26/2011 10:16am

This is so wonderful of you - many, many thanks, my friend! I've added it to the Amazon US site just now and it's perfect! I so appreciate the time and trouble to which you've gone in the midst of your busy life! You are a rare friend, indeed. All the best to you, Oscar, now and always!! x Jo