Official Review: Chiaroscuro by Mary W. Jensen

[RussetDivinity]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Chiaroscuro" by Mary W. Jensen.]

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Chiaroscuro is a collection of poetry by Mary W. Jensen. The poems are mostly free verse, though there is one sestina, a few villanelles, and several poems made up of quatrains. The title refers to the interplay of light and darkness, but the poems illustrate several more themes than just the one. The fifty-some poems in the collection explore such themes as light and darkness, death (both of a child and a spouse), drowning, mythology, and loss. There are several poems that don’t fit neatly into any of these categories scattered throughout, most of which are narratives. Overall, I would give this collection 3 out of 4 stars.

My favorite poem of the piece would probably be “If Atlas Had a Tantrum”. It is the piece which opens the collection, and for the most part, it illustrates what is to come. “Johnny” was another favorite. It took the familiar song “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” and made it into a dirge, something to be sung in the aftermath of the war, with the loss of a son, brother, and friend. Though the style of both seems simplistic, there is a beauty in the simplicity, particularly in the last few lines of “If Atlas Had a Tantrum”. The poems throughout the rest of the piece also have a simplistic feel, and in a time when a lot of poetry is filled with complexities and hidden meanings, it can be refreshing to have a poem that explores beauty through the simplicity of what it says.

However, there is something to be said for having different layers of meaning in a poem, and some of Jensen’s poetry becomes too simplistic and too easy to read. This is why I couldn’t give it four stars; though I enjoyed the first poem and found myself touched at moments throughout, I often found myself wishing for something more, especially in the narrative poems. Poetry in a narrative, I’ve learned, can’t simply be a story. There must be something more, and though the language Jensen uses in her narrative poems is beautiful and striking, the narratives didn’t have that extra something that would make it into a poem rather than a narrative told through verse. I found myself wishing that several of the narrative poems had been told as a narrative, which I believed would make them stronger.

There is one poem in this collection which stands out in particular: “The Climb”. While all the other poems in Chiaroscuro are left-aligned with more-or-less traditional line breaks, “The Climb” looks as though the words themselves are forming a mountain side. It can even be read by “climbing” visually up or down. The words don’t change, but there is a subtle shift within the words depending on which way it is read.

None of the poetry in Chiaroscuro is bad, though some is overly sentimental. I would recommend this for anyone who wants a light read of poetry and is looking for something simple yet beautiful. This is a collection of the sort of poetry that can be enjoyed easily, perhaps at the end of a long day.

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[sahmoun2778]

Thanks for the review. You analysis seems very thorough. Poetry is not really my thing but I feel like I would be able to make a good decision about reading this book based on your review.