Black Arts & Culture Feature:
Reviewed by Donna Faulkner
Down River with Li Po
by Karen Pierce Gonzalez
Black Cat Poetry Press
£10.99, IBSN 9781068779923, Paperback
Down River with Li Po is a 30 poem portal into the delightful world of Li Po. An invitation to be immersed in the insightful tranquility of eras past, to ‘crawl up heaven’s hem’ to ‘celestial gates’. Shadow dance as ‘a wood dragon on sage mountain’. Grounded in a profound respect for Li Po’s legacy, Gonzakecz builds a suite of poems that honour him as Mentor and an Old Master. Replicating the Yangzi river flows, this collection begins ‘On The Bank’ and ends ‘At the harbour’ working like a conversation between poets.
On the Bank
Li Po speaks to the sky. Or is he talking to me? My face presses against
the willow woven blanket of time between us; at just the right angle it is
porous. I’m sure our lives once crossed. A student, I yearned then – as I do
now – to view the world through his words.
And concluding with ….
At the Harbor
‘Where heaven and earth meet, I lean into passing moments and look for signs of
Li Po; brush strokes of moonlight on every knot and thread of his brocaded cloak’
Gonzalezs with her feet firmly in the present, glances backwards with an emphatic gaze. She maintains eye contact, links hand with the past and honors the essence of Li Po’s poems.
‘…I lean into passing moments and look for signs of
Li Po; brush strokes of moonlight…’
Gonzalez’ words weave the landscape, they build a bridge. Painting a picture that effortlessly navigates what was, and what is.
‘only a breath away
we share
the same latitude
of ancestral yearning”
‘Somewhere
a starfish fossils on shore’
when icy January
chases vagabonds out of alleys…
April welcomes castaways.
No poem does more in this collection than ‘The Imperial’ to straddle the past and the present. The Imperial is demonstrably clever. Its title sets the scene, instantly transporting the reader back to the past with connotations of dynasty and empire.
‘The wood dragon on sage mountain’ not only paints the landscape brown and green but breathes life into its myths, culture and wisdom.
This poem’s form even resembles the mountain descent, and leaves us at summer’s promise.
Imperial
wood dragon
on sage mountain
heats up a sunrise
of ripe berries that roll
into the open mouth
of summer.
With subtle suggestion and a gentle hand Gonzalez accompanies the reader on a pilgrimage. Guiding them as they float down the ‘Yangzi river’ on a ‘balsa raft’, to ‘…kite our way over valleys’ as ‘knees scrape against autumn’ and ‘carpet the concrete’ A beautiful example of contemporary eco poetry, this collection again and again reveals the rich tapestry of nature’s experience.
‘Wild geese in formation
protect the world’
‘Wet scales drip as it swims mid-air.
There, fins spread into the rich plumage of a
red-shouldered hawk’
Guiding the reader through all their senses: ‘Round sticky globes of rice’ and ‘spongy spring lichen on my fingertips’
Engaging the emotions that emanate through Li Po’s work, and with delicate strokes, Gonzalez packs maximum impact into snapshots of the natural world. ‘Pink yarrow garden’ and ‘patchwork planets’. Traversing the rural and the urban, the seen and the suggested. Lotus flowers, urban streets and vast mountains. ‘Ten thousand grains beneath bright sun’
I both thoroughly enjoyed and admired this collection. In a chaotic world these poems are a calming respite.
‘I row my paddle boat midway
across the olive-green lagoon,
and stare at the stitched quilt of night’
More than anything these poems feel like the residual peace that lingers after prayer or meditation. Content in the present, at peace with the past and hopeful for the future. ‘Down River with Li Po’ reads as a testimony to purpose in poetry. Skilfully crafted, each poem seamlessly flows into the next with a cohesion of tone and contemporary flair. These poems are animated with an empathetic pulse that can ‘soften even the stones’.
This collection, like a meditation, can be revisited over again, offering fresh insight and satisfaction with every read.
About the reviewer: Donna Faulkner is an award winning writer and poet. She lives in Rangiora, New Zealand and has been published in The Bayou Review, 300 Days of Sun, Windward Review, Havik, Fieldstone Review, New Myths, Bacopa Literary Review and many others. Her debut poetry collection ‘In Silver Majesty’ was published by erbacce press in 2024. https://linktr.ee/donnafaulkner Instagram @lady_lilith_poet, and Twitter: @nee_miller
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