Nicotine Dreams review
Review by: Scott Malby
Info: Scott Malby is a poet and author
Magazine: zinos.com
Originally Appeared: Zinos.com Review of the week Sept. 9-15 2002
Believe me when I say I've done a lot of looking. As of this writing, I have not found a satisfying, definitive definition for a poem or poetry. For me, poems are words under fire, experiences, compressed affirmations. My definition changes in subtle ways depending on who I read or am influenced by. In part, I want a poem to slap me in the face... wake me up... to confront me with things I may have known but didn't know I knew until I experienced them in the particular poem in question.
The chapbook "Nicotine Dreams" by RC Edrington has much to recommend it. It is primarily a haunting, unresolved exploration and search for meaning as seen through the eyes of a man regarding his relationship with alcohol and the women in his life. In terms of this chapbook, I believe the poet is better then he thinks he is. Each poem is an experience. It is well organized and thoughtfully laid out.
Edrington in effect opens the curtain on his psyche so that his readers become voyeuristic accomplices regarding his relationships. This is not to say that this is what the poet intended. I'm not certain he cares what his readers think. Nor should he. As Edrington points out in the second stanza of his poem "Still Life": "There is a right way, & my way./ I do it my way." Considering the particular chapbook under review, his way is good enough for me.
The poet attempts through his poetry to be brutally honest with himself. It is an impossible thing to do. The chapbook is as much about the search for spirituality as it is about relationships. Whether he is aware of it or not, this poet has chosen his sexual experiences as the focus for challenging and examining the nature of meaning and life.
There are 12 poems in the series. An organic connection seems to exist between the poems. It is a tight, accomplished collection. The first poem in the series, "Tequila Reunion" sets the overall tone and direction.
We could say of life that Edrington has "pawned his heart" to it and that it is experienced by him as he pictures the woman in his first poem: "your sweaty body/ arched and melted/ through a white gauze dress/ from song to song/ chest to chest/ man to man".
At his best, Edrington can handle a stanza surprisingly well. Witness this excerpt from the second poem in the collection and what it might tell us about the protagonist:
while this drunken hero
splashes brandy
into a plastic cup,
inhales the butt of night
for its last hit of smoke,
then grinds it away
into the bedpost.
The poet as anti-hero has a long tradition in literature. To simplify a complex continuity, we can see attenuated connections between poets such as Rimbaud, O' Hara, Bukowski and Edrington. The point I am trying to make is that alienation is a recognized part of our existence and it is not the poet's responsibility to resolve or mitigate.
Not only is there suffering, disillusionment and "promises left unfilled" in this collection but a disguised sensitivity to the uniqueness of each moment tinged at times with an implied affirmation. That affirmation Mr. Edrington takes pains to hide. Take a look at this poem titled "6 a.m." Who, we wonder, is the poet referring to in the last four lines? Is she named Camille?
6 a.m.
morning breeze
flicks her ribbon hair
beneath the thin crack
of the bedroom door,
squeals as she scrapes
her tender spine
on the splintered edges
once in,
she loops and swirls
her tangled hair
in loose circles around
the hairs of my naked
waking chest,
like your fingers
had you been here
instead of just me wishing
that you were
For Edrington, "Infinity is a highway of dreams" exchanged for: "love for a bottle of one night stands". Love, like life has its dangers. The poet picks his words carefully. I wonder though if at times there is an interchangeable confusion between love and sex. Explore with me the last 13 lines of the poem titled "Dream Highway" and draw your own conclusions.
Trust me!
I never wanted this.
I never wanted this love,
this forbidden desire
that rips me from sleep
and cries your name,
but I am hooked
and like a junkie
I am on my knees
begging for a taste
of your lips
to cradle me back
to sleep.
Most satisfying are the two poems in the series dedicated to Camille. They are probably the two most beautiful as well. Here, we find in Edrington a poetic gift for description and melancholic ambiguity. I am not going to quote from them but recommend you go to Spent Angel Press in order to download the free chapbook.
For a number of reasons, I tend to pay special attention to the last poem in any series. It is a poetic kind of farewell and parting statement. In the case of "Nicotine Dreams" it is titled "Black Convertible Jaguar Chrome".
The poem points to Edrington's strengths as well as weaknesses. The danger with this type of poet is that they get stereotyped for any number of reasons into writing a specific type of poem in an "expected" sort of way. "Black Convertible Jaguar Chrome" is one of the strongest in the collection. The issue is that admirers of a person tend to want that person to be stylistically the same over and over again. It is a problem a writer needs to watch out for.
I would hazard that love for Edrington appears in the final analysis to be a disillusionment. He appears to seek meaning and validation through sex. Sex, by itself, is incapable of providing meaningful spiritual growth. At his best, Mr. Edrington is an accomplished poet. I would challenge him to risk experimenting with other forms and themes. He owes that to himself as an artist. In the meantime, I would encourage readers to get a hold of the free chapbook "Nicotine Dreams". It is an honestly good read and well worth the trouble. To get the most out of it you need to read it more then once and look for interconnections.