Lauren Heaney<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In his debut poetry collection, The Crossing<\/em>, Jonathan Fink explores themes surrounding the human body and mind in relation to suffering, labor, and most prominently, the human condition. He begins with a poem entitled \u201cThe Crossing\u201d and a short explanation of a Mindanao tribe belief that, \u201cThe soul leaves the body in sleep, then returns to wake it; death occurs when the soul leaves permanently.\u201d Whether or not you agree with this belief, I found it provided a background setting for the rest of the poems in Fink\u2019s collection.<\/p>\n His main discussions of the human body are introduced in the first poem, a series of six shorter poems, titled, \u201cThe Promise of the Body is its Dream\u201d in which he explores his interest in the structure of the body and especially the mind in relation to writer\u2019s block. The first of these, \u201cVitruvian Man,\u201d dives into a free verse description of the human body and I found that immediately Fink\u2019s ability to contrast nature with machine shown through. He writes, \u201cAnd where the compass left its mark I draw the belly of a man; how all things radiate from here, the true machine,\u201d combining what is manmade and man himself, which is a comparison that repeated appears in the book.<\/p>\n This is also the first taste readers get of the various and differing writing styles presented in the rest of this poetry collection. Fink showcased his talents as a poet by including not only free verse, most common among modern poets, but also traditional villanelles and sonnets, which in my experience of reading poetry have mainly found written in the past century or earlier. Breaking from his free verse does not alter the affect his poetry has on the reader but instead strengthens the diversity in the emotions and thoughts evoked by his work.<\/p>\n One poem in particular that I believe captures the prominent theme of the \u201chuman condition\u201d is his free verse poem, \u201cThe Lighthouse Keeper.\u201d What stood out most to me was Fink\u2019s ability to combine human labor and emotion in one poem and also from two different perspectives, while keeping it in third person. When I say this I mean that he describes the work of the keeper and his internal desires as well as the destinations and thoughts of the sailors using the light to guide them back to shore, or at least away from dangerous rocks.<\/p>\n In my personal favorite passage from the poem he writes,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The sailors, once they reach the bay,<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Already have forgotten him again,<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Absconding landward to their homes.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And what can stop the constant flux of ships<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Unbidden and abrupt as rain?<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With close of night descending on the bay<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And ships forever lost in rain,<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He gives again the thankless gift of home.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n What I find intriguing about these two stanzas is Fink\u2019s portrayal of the human mind in particular and its relation to the \u201chuman condition.\u201d Here, the sailors are completely dependent on the lighthouse keeper in order to get home safely, and once they do, he is erased from their minds completely. On the other side of that, the keeper is aware of it, however, he continues to light the lighthouse despite any internal conflict of being underappreciated.<\/p>\n Another notable poem is his villanelle, \u201cPassage,\u201d whose title closely relates to the collection\u2019s and general theme of passing on. What stuck out to me when first reading this were the refrains, \u201cHow quickly memory tempers into form,\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s not the past, but passing to be mourned.\u201d Not only are these two lines beautifully written, but they sum up the Fink\u2019s \u201chuman condition\u201d and suffering themes as they both express mortality and the realization of a temporary existence. When it comes to loss, whether of a person or thing, Fink\u2019s second refrain comments on the human nature of living in the past once someone has died and mourning all the times that are now gone and how it is the wrong aspect to focus on. Rather than stay in a past we can not fix or bring back, we should focus on the present and how to move on. He writes,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 While some widow waking in a storm,<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Extends her arm where absent darling lay,<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How quickly memory tempers into form. <\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Which I believe is a beautiful, though sad, passage on the realization of mortality and my favorite inclusion of his first refrain. It shows the tragic toll death can have on loved ones of the departed as their memory sometimes takes over during their grieving so they do not feel alone or that they now have to live without that person or thing.<\/p>\n Lastly, the final poem included in Fink\u2019s, \u201cThe Crossing,\u201d is the \u201cConflagration and Wage: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, 1911,\u201d which is written in the same form as the first poem, \u201cThe Promise of the Body is its Dream.\u201d Here, he brilliantly breaks down the historical into 18 small poems that create a timeline in which the fire took place, from the mindset of the workers in the factory to the reactions of people observing the fire from the street. He starts with \u201cArrival\u201d and \u201cThe First Day\u201d where he describes a girl who works at the factory being dropped off, though it is not clear if it is at the start of the day when the fire took place. One of the more emotional inclusions is the fourth poem, \u201cLetter From a Young Woman to Her Mother,\u201d where Fink puts himself in the mind of one of the girls who is homesick but has to continue to support her family, and writes \u201cI see you standing in the doorway to my room, but even in my dreams your voice is gone.\u201d After these beginning poems, he moves on into when the fire begins and strategically changes perspectives within his poems as seen with \u201cSamuel Levine, a Machine Operator, Escapes Through the Elevator Shaft,\u201d and \u201cImages from the Street III,\u201d once again showing his masterful writing talent.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Crossing<\/em><\/p>\n Jonathan Fink<\/p>\n Dzanc Books<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lauren Heaney In his debut poetry collection, The Crossing, Jonathan Fink explores themes surrounding the human body and mind in relation to suffering, labor, and most prominently, the human condition. He begins with a poem entitled \u201cThe Crossing\u201d and a short explanation of a Mindanao tribe belief that, \u201cThe soul leaves the body in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":540,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-written-by"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/540"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":576,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574\/revisions\/576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}