{"id":1544,"date":"2011-09-02T11:36:10","date_gmt":"2011-09-02T15:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gadflyonline.com\/wpblog\/?p=1544"},"modified":"2012-07-15T20:03:38","modified_gmt":"2012-07-16T00:03:38","slug":"review-of-nevertheless-by-wendy-videlock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/review-of-nevertheless-by-wendy-videlock\/","title":{"rendered":"Review of Nevertheless by Wendy Videlock"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Art of Listening Isn\u2019t Hard to Master\u201d<\/p>\n

Listening at
\na poetry reading
\nis altogether
\nanother matter.
\n– Wendy Videlock, Nevertheless<\/em><\/p>\n

And yet Wendy Videlock makes it easy. During a private poetry reading at my kitchen table \u2013 I was reading her poems; Videlock wasn\u2019t in attendance \u2013 I had no trouble at all reading through her collection, Nevertheless<\/em>. She has a playfulness with the language and an undeniable wit that makes her work rather difficult not to enjoy. Nevertheless<\/em> is a wonderful synthesis of traditional forms and modern subjects, heavy themes and quick one-liners, self-awareness and unanswered questions. In her first full-length book of poetry, Videlock lets us experience her love affair with language.<\/p>\n

Wendy Videlock hails from Western Colorado, and that reflects in some of her poetry. Natural themes \u2013 poems titled \u201cCoyote,\u201d \u201cSaguaro,\u201d \u201cOwl,\u201d among others \u2013 provide a sense of folk art, something earthy and gritty and mystical in its simplistic connection to the world. But nothing in Nevertheless<\/em> is quite as simplistic as it would seem at first. Videlock\u2019s Coyote wrestles with Thor and Kokopelli appears in a poem with Moses.\u00a0 The poem \u201cHawk\u201d combines Videlock\u2019s love of simple language with her complexity of self-awareness. Within the forest \u201cgreen is green and blue is blue,\u201d but the hawk, the folk art symbol of freedom, has \u201cyellow eyes and a busted wing.\u201d She ends the poem \u201cand deep in the forest, no one knew.\u201d It\u2019s a theme that repeats itself over and over in the collection, the sense of self in connection to the world without really knowing how.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the greatest strength of Videlock\u2019s poetry is that it\u2019s easy to follow. She writes poems that are accessible and include themes of everyday life, from the relationship between husband and wife, mother and child, to your reaction upon seeing your neighbor\u2019s clothesline, to all the different ways to think about sex. I found these poems to be some of her most charming; they are disarmingly simple in form and remarkably precise in language. One of my favorites:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Idle\u201d<\/p>\n

He watches ball.<\/p>\n

She throws a fit.<\/p>\n

She cannot stand<\/p>\n

to see him sit.<\/p>\n

Language is one of her favorite themes in this book. Entire poems dedicated to listing words \u2013 \u201cCharge,\u201d a list of verbs and \u201cSome Sounds I Couldn\u2019t Do Without,\u201d another poem comprising some of the best-sounding words in the English language. Every poem is rendered with a masterful understanding of how words fit together on a page and how they sound within your mind. Videlock thrives on twisting your eyes and delighting your ear. She has her own take on the sonnet form and haiku, often places the title as the opening line (such as in the poem that opens this article) and fills her poems start to finish with enjambments, including a poem with the namesake.<\/p>\n

But if it seems like Nevertheless<\/em> is all skin-deep and no heart, make no mistake, Videlock isn\u2019t one to shy away from the pressing issues of the day. She tackles them head-on with the same sharpness and biting wit that all of her poems share. One poem entitled \u201cChange\u201d seems particularly relevant. Upon reading it, the stark simplicity of Videlock\u2019s words smacked of truth.<\/p>\n

Change is the new,
\nimproved
\nword for god.<\/p>\n

In the same simple manner of all her poems, Videlock calls into stark reality the power of our current desires for change. \u201cMighty enough,\u201d she says, \u201clike other gods, to shelter, bring together, and estrange us.\u201d To me, this poem feels undeniably political. It screams of disappointment and desperation. \u201cPlease god, we seem to say, change us<\/em>.\u201d Into what, Videlock doesn\u2019t say.<\/p>\n

As a poet, Videlock doesn\u2019t try to provide the answers. She asks the questions, which are usually slipped into the final line of a poem to catch the reader off guard and leave that one simple phrase echoing in their mind. Her poems have the ability to elicit humor, smiles, and that subtle shifting in your belly when you know something isn\u2019t quite as right as it ought to be. Summed up:<\/p>\n

What I\u2019ve learned
\nthroughout the years
\nis what I know<\/p>\n

of wisdom is so small
\nit disappears.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless<\/em> \u2013 it\u2019s the rebuttal to an argument, the pressing on when things are tough, an important reminder in the face of opposition, the lighter side of a dark situation.<\/p>\n

Artwork by Wendy Videlock. To view more of her art, click HERE<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Art of Listening Isn\u2019t Hard to Master\u201d Listening at a poetry reading is altogether another matter. – Wendy Videlock, Nevertheless And yet Wendy Videlock makes it easy. During a private poetry reading at my kitchen table \u2013 I was reading her poems; Videlock wasn\u2019t in attendance \u2013 I had no trouble at all reading […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,223,220],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1544"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1544"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3139,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1544\/revisions\/3139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}