Out of True: Poems
by Amy Durant
Out of True is
a world knocked off-kilter by love, both in its giving and its
absence.
"You don't want me to write about you," Amy Durant says
in "Palimpsest," when it seems that what the speaker would
like to say is, "I can't stop writing about you, and to be
honest, it's kind of doing my head in." I don't want to make the
assumption that Durant's poems come from a personal place, but
whoever is speaking within them had to work very hard at moving past
a life-altering, unbalanced relationship. Still, as is the case with
most big loves, one never completely lets go.
It's your brain that does it. Turns another
person, a total stranger, into your other half,
into what you've been missing. Your brain
fills in the gaps. Your brain does this.
Your heart just keeps pumping. Dumbly pumping
away, oblivious.
You imprint upon someone like an orphaned
baby duck. Your brain tells you to do it,
so you do. It could be anyone. Your brain
pulls you down the path. You follow. You
don't know any better.
You're along for the ride.
- from "The Science of This"
There
are so many lines in Durant's poems that feel so true and can be tied
to my own memories. She has great insight into love and heartbreak,
and also the bewilderment of our own making. I know how easy it is to
tell myself that I will no longer care in the same way I once did, or
that I won't let it bother me that I care far more about
someone/thing than others, but I'm only semi-successful. "I
loved you at temperatures beyond all that is rational,"
she writes. I know that love.
And
then, without our permission, as though we could ever give
permission, time passes:
You are married.
I thought since I still
dream of you at night
you were also
dreaming of me.
- from "REM Sleep. March – September"
The early loves are perhaps some of the most difficult. It's before
we know fully who we are and what we want and how we should treat
each other. It's too easy to get it wrong, even when our
self-awareness advances.
Other
poems talk about love gone right, the love that happens after a
disaster, the steadier kind. She writes of forgoing the idea of a
perfect house, of learning to be around children, and of being happy
as long as two people support each other. It's nice to read, that the
poems aren't so singularly focused that they dwell.
One big love does not mean that the big loves are singular in
occurrence.
Durant has many good bits, but she sometimes tries too hard to neatly
end poems. More than one, I wanted to trim the last line or so, as
they lessened the impact of the whole poem. Every once in awhile, she
falls into what I like to call "Poetry Slam-Style Metaphor
Overkill," where one moment "you" are fire, then rain,
then "I" am in a Venn diagram, then a labrynth — all in
rapid succession. For me, it's an unfocused way of saying, "Look!
Watch me write!" It's an easy temptation.
Still,
Out of True is a very
enjoyable collection of poetry in a pocket-sized edition, and one
that makes me eager to read Amy Durant's other and future work. You
should too.
Full
Disclosure: This book was sent to me as a review copy from the
author. I thank her for the gesture, and I will continue to be fair
with my reviews.
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