1000 SONNETS by Tim Atkins
(if p then q, Manchester, U.K., 2010)
I thought that if I could put it all down, that would be one
way. And next the thought came to me that to leave all out
would be another, and truer, way.
clean washed sea
The flowers were
These are examples of leaving out. But, forget as we will,
something soon comes to stand in their place. Not the
truth, perhaps, but—yourself. It is you who made this,
therefore you are true. But the truth has passed on
to divide all
—John Ashbery/The New Spirit
The book's epigraph by John Ashbery, and epigraphing this review, is so lovely, and quite fittingly indicates the underlying concept to Tim Atkins’ 1000 SONNETS. The poems are sonnets viz the number of lines, but many of the “lines” are taken up by marks like slashes, a period or a series of periods or asterisks. Such marks stand in for, to paraphrase Ashbery, what’s been left out. The challenge then, at least to this reader who was quite taken by the The New Spirit's excerpt, is that the poems—with all of its gaps—be as moving as Ashbery’s epigraph.
To cut to the chase, these poems are wonderful.
It’s been a pleasure to take Atkins’ 1000 SONNETS at face value. There's a context for the creation of these poems, e.g. how the title alludes to “Kenneth Koch’s hilarious sequence of short plays/skits 1000 Avant Garde Plays” (to quote the book’s press release). But I ignore all that. I’m looking at what’s presented by the book, including the gorgeous epigraph from Ashbery that touches on the poems' technique. But if these poems are presented partly to present absences, I take that at face value without trying to refer to what might have been erased text. Actually, I don’t think there are any erased texts—the erasure is just implied because of the sonnet’s 14-line form. For example, this “Sonnet 62” that evokes (for me) the work of Jukka-Pekka Kervinen for seeming random and yet logical unto itself:
SONNET 62
………………….
Took
………………….
………, truly, stroke
.
.
.
2/3223/3223/3223/2/3223//
.
.
.
Section
/
breaks//Borough
But if there are no erased texts, how can there be an absence without there first having been something that later, uh, became absent? One answer could be that the absence was that of the reader, for it is the reader who could make the poem “whole” by judging it as, uh, “logical unto itself”…?
And, indeed, inexplicable though it may be, what seems to be a writing of gaps is deceptive in that: there are no gaps. If something is created as a gap, that gap is the content…? So, say, a poem like “Sonnet 42” might look, with all those dotted lines, as if something is missing. But this reader, anyway, was moved to say nothing is missing. Why? Because, actually for this example, this poem sings! Be receptive to it--even as I recall, and this may heighten your receptivity, Jose Garcia Villa once saying one can "ignore" the commas in his "comma poems," whereby a comma followed each word, to respond mostly to the words:
SONNET 42
In the beginning
…………………………………..
among genuine monsters
………………….
………………….
entry in which
……………………….
brachiopods on mopeds
sine b = constant tide
……………………………..
……………………………..
hands hot & moist
east of evesham
, ride
Even the title may hint at incompletenesses, at absence. It says 1000 SONNETS and yet there are only 125 sonnets in the book. So there’s something missing, yah? Well, not necessarily. I speak as one who once wrote a book entitled THE SECRET LIVES OF PUNCTUATIONS, VOL. 1 with no intention of ever penning more volumes. I simply wanted the title to convey the sense of the project’s continuity beyond the physical constraint of the book (or page). I think this point of view might be applicable to 1000 SONNETS, if only because the poems are created to present seeming absences or gaps when, in actuality, they may just be allowing for a space for the reader’s engagement.
On the other hand, there are 125 sonnets (if I counted correctly) and yet the last sonnet is a “Sonnet 124.” I think Atkins didn’t do this just to trip out a reviewer who might be doing a cursory read of his book. I actually think the inclusion of “extra” content (extra based on the numbering of sonnet titles) is a gesture for presenting more than what seems on surface to be presented.
Anyway, that’s enough blithering about it—I don’t want to over-digress from my main point: in simply taking the poems at face value, I received much pleasure. For instance, I thought “Sonnet 121” is HILARIOUS! Here it is in its entirety
SONNET 121
Barcelonas
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
dense cones
.
.
.
.
Again, it’s difficult to articulate why one would consider these poems effective, e.g. why I think “Sonnet 121” is funny without any reasoning becoming about the reading of the poem vs. the poem. That’s the risk of poems reliant on gaps—who else fills in the gaps in a poem but the reader(s)? It’s not a critic’s explications! So if I found “Sonnet 121” hilarious, it’s about Moi—how, once, in Barcelona, I rounded an alley and stumbled across a parade of clowns in cone hats, then woke up from the dream that must have been….oh never mind.
Okay, one more. And I think it’s significant that I want to keep blathering about this book—I find it, oddly, cheerful. Or is that, oddly cheerful? Anyway, I am cheered by engaging with it. So, one more: I found “Sonnet 2” playful—
SONNET 2
hark
fog
I
don’t
see
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
specifically, note how the two dots are not ellipses ( what absence?) and if you keep reading down the line, it’s possible that the poem becomes vispo on you and those two dots become… eyes. The gaze staring back!
This particular poem also reveals (belatedly to me as this was the second poem in the book and yet I took so long to comprehend) how these marks may not be stand-ins for something else; these marks may be as legitimate as words in fleshing out a sonnet line.
Anyway, 1000 SONNETS filled me with delight. I don’t need to explain it—I just want to feel its joy which is offered so abundantly. Thank you, Tim Atkins!
*****
Eileen Tabios does not let her books be reviewed by Galatea Resurrects, but she is pleased to point you elsewhere to reviews of her books. Her newest book THE THORN ROSARY: Selected Prose Poems & New (1998-2010) is reviewed by Amazon top-notch reviewer Grady Harp over HERE, William Allegrezza over at p-ramblings HERE and by Leny M. Strobel at Moria Poetry HERE. Mr. Harp also reviews her NOTA BENE EISWEIN over HERE. If the former book gets you curious, please note that its publisher Marsh Hawk Press is supporting a fundraiser for Haiti relief by giving a free copy if you order at least $15 worth of booklets through the Hay(na)ku for Haiti fundraiser; as THE THORN ROSARY is priced retail at $19.95, this is one of the best bargains in the poetry world, even as it helps out with a Haiti fundraiser.
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