After taking the time to read through the latest issue of Vinyl Poetry I am reminded of that age-old saying, the Devil is in the details. As both a long time poet and lover of the written word I tend to either over think language play or let myself be lost in the great expanse of beautiful descriptions. To put it bluntly, descriptive language is the life’s blood of poetry. Through description alone the poet can paint a picture in the mind of their readers/listeners, explore themes and ideas beyond those specific details, and most importantly, tell a story.

Enter Vinyl Poetry, an online poetry magazine where every published poet embraces the importance of storytelling, even tones, and descriptive language. To say that this is refreshing would be an understatement. Many modern poets seem content with emotional content alone. Screaming and shouting as opposed to any real attempt to immerse listeners and readers alike in a world and a story. In this new age poetry scene Vinyl seems to be a magazine where anyone can see just what happens when a poet is free to indulge in his or her overly descriptive self.

One of the ways Vinyl feels so free is the way that it seems to operate. Cycling through its past issues, they don’t seem to release their magazine on any predetermined schedule. There is no quarterly deadline for example, instead Vinyl lets its contributors work on their own steam and upload when they are ready. Moreover they actively encourage collaboration between their regular poets to work together on their poetry.

This is probably why the November 2013 issue feels so thematically unified. Every poem in this issue speaks of personal struggle and the outside forces that dictated the struggles outcome. Each poem is lovingly written, with natural details delivered with such aplomb and subtly rarely seen in poetry. Jason Dewald for example sets the tone of the issue as one of the premiere poets. Writing such long stretches of detail, Dewald paints a picture of nature, of the shadows of dawn dancing in pine forests, and the passionate man that reads, and remembers under the tress:

Morning Palette

“He was reading. Then

the shadow of the pine tree

brushed across the page.

He sat the book down

when the shadow of her hair

brushed across the page

Is it her shadow

Of the shadow of the pine

That darkens his page?”

This is just the third of the first three poems and yet it sets the tone for this kind of collective narrative of struggle and heartbreak that this issue is based around. Tone aside though it works as a brilliant poem in its own right. Its voice is subtle, almost a whisper but again the Devil’s in the details and this subtle voice of remembrance is the perfect narrator to read these shadowy descriptions of solemn nature.

Dewald however only wrote one poem for the November issue. His poem spoke of a single moment in time, a story of solemn remembrance. Compared to say Wesley Rothman, the closer poet who writes close to three separate poems, each reflecting that expresses attention to detail and storytelling found throughout the issue. In this way Rothman, long standing editor and lecturer, presents the three perfect poems to end on. Titled Trumpethead, SAMO © Blues, and the Invention of Clock Theory these three poems embody the philosophies of Vinyl right down to the core sentence level:

Trumpethead

“Your always-hoarse voice touts about town its out loud frowns. Its lovely little shriek an in head beat, muffled and humming itself to undone sleep, slums numb peace.”

See how each line bounces off of each other. The lines are tight enough so that the constant consonant sounds of L and S in the words sleep and slums make the words numb and peace have that much more punch to them, and so they stand out as prime details. Sleep, slums numb peace. Such a simple line and yet the detail in here speaks beyond the description itself. In other words, he describes sleep as numb peace, but because the details are so specific we as readers can see the alluding symbol of death and eternal peace. Because Wesley understands the importance of specificity he creates yet another compelling narrative of melancholic remembrance.

SAMO © Blues operates in very much the same way, concentrating on using specific detail to paint a picture in the readers mind. The key difference of course is that this poem doesn’t quite tell a story rather than give an emotional impression. A glimpse into the mind of our narrator:

SAMO © Blues

“Same old verdict Same ol’ war tug Same old same old Same old sucker punch SAMO© hoodie Same name shame”

True there is no definite story here, but Wesley still uses many story telling elements. Through use of repetition the specificity of the details shines through. Telling signs of annoyance, indifference, and a hidden back-story all entice the reader to keep going and to find out why, “SAMO© IS DEAD, SAMO© is risen, SAMO© Will come again lives on.”

Overall, Dewalt may set the tone and Wesley sums it up but it is Janice H. Harrington, a poet featured right on the cusp of page two, that impressed this reviewer the most. Her use of natural detail was breathtaking, presenting a running narration of a single narrator staring out at the empty solace of the city. Of all the poets in this issue she stands out amongst the rest through sheer specificity alone:

Fractures

“Perhaps there is nothing whole in any city. Push your fingers into the soil— shattered spoil, sharp spurs, a razored edge, consumption’s get and awful ornament. Heineken and Rolling Rock pitched at a gibbous moon. (See the moon’s stained shoulder.) (See the broken bottleneck glinting under the streetlight.) 2 A glass shard driven through a child’s thigh. Dark-eyed juncos, ruby-crowned kinglets, white-throated sparrows break against plated glass: glitter, feathered tesserae, bright cullet. The crack in a glass pane travels at 3,000 mph. Like windows in a burning house, another city shatters.”

City as individual worlds filled with solemn regret, hurt, and cool club metaphors. This is the picture Harrington paints for her readers and it is why this magazine works so well. In the end this issue succeeds because of writers like Harrington. If given the chance I could go one and present more poems and break down what exactly their specific language bring to light but in the end Vinyl succeeds in this issue and past issues all because they bring together poets that understand that the Devil is in the details.

© 2014 Jared "I.J" Steinberg. All Rights Reserved.

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