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Rise, Fall, and Acceptance - poems by Patrick Carrington
ISBN 978-1-59948-042-8
Main Street Rag,
4416 Shea Lane,
Charlotte, NC
28227
Main Street Rag
A Review by David Fraser
Rise, Fall and Acceptance, a poetry collection by Patrick Carrington lyrically depicts a
variety of characters and relationships in narrative portraits expressed with compassion
and reverence. In the opening poem "The Importance of Water" the poet asks the old man how
the moon pulls, "how dewdrops kiss their leaves". We see a deep reverence for nature and a sense of wonder with the life force of the natural world. In "The Elders" the language paints the dried landscape of the San Joaquin Valley during drought and in contrast richly describes the elder's responses to hardship with their hopefulness and "the abuelas with eyes bright as Spanish song" baking and cooking special foods to uplift the farmers. Patrick Carrington gets inside this landscape and its inhabitants with his flow of language. "Talavera plates / overflowed them with huevos y chorizo / and heavy grapefruits halved".
In "Strawberry Moon" Carrington in describing the beauty of nature unleashes soft sibilant
sounds such as "sweet with the sugars / of song and sunfade and I see / the back of sadness
break". Similarly we are lulled into the flow of his word choice with "the willows whistle"
and "water to wind to willow". Later in the collection in "Walking on Yellow" dying October
and the approach of winter are described. "A birth / of white is waiting for a crumbling /
the dry-crisp crinkle of death". He ends again alliteratively with the burning of leaves -
"the forgotten ash that floats / from their fires is gray and black". In Grandma's Vines"
he writes an earthy organic tribute to his grandmother, her toil, her nurturing of the
plants and soil and the compassion she shows for the poet's father as a child, tucking
"him into bed / when her wine was young". His reverence is for the simple things of life,
natural elements, and natural gestures - "old women in black / squeezing cantaloupes in vegetable stands".
In all three sections of the collection Patrick Carrington focuses on painting portraits
of characters with his lyrical choice of vocabulary. A steel worker stomps and arrives home
as his "boots brought factory iron / with them / And the bronze bubbles of the smelt,
the ash on his whiskers". The dying seaman is compassionately described intricately linked
to wind and sail, the sea, "the ropes in knots that smell of shipwrecks / and tears of oceans
as they wet and whip / his hair.' Johanna is powerfully courted in a riot of imagery that swirls
and moves across the page, "rustle of leaves", "wind whistles", "the sound of silk sliding".
Powerfully the poet asks Johanna, "Join me / in a bending / the way this dark propels itself".
Other women in the poet's life are described, a Jezebel, whores, Sophie, a distracted
housewife, his favorite Tomboy, Louise - :One Mighty Fine Piece of Strange". Louise is
dangerous and the imagery is concise - sharp slender and spiked like her long thin legs
and her stiletto-spiked heels. Sophie, a low-rent slut is depicted with compassion. There
is affection and caring for these women who are longing for romance and surviving in a world
that uses them. A Jezebel in "Purple Eyes" is poor white trash who becomes a prostitute and
tempts all the "proper" men in town and leaves the wives whispering and powerless as she sends them all to hell.
Other portraits involve grandfathers, grandmothers, fathers and sons, uncles and nephews.
A grandfather's flying boots in "His Dresden Boots" conjures up the memories, the residual
guilt, souvenirs of his bombing raids in the fire bombing of Dresden. In "Willy's Nephews"
Carrington writes a tribute to the lessons of growing up strong and tough, providing for by
the hard toiling on the land, "the lesson of broad shoulders". Here is a man who is revered
for his hard work and tenacity, whose nephews watched him "fill the silos for winter and cut
/ the throats of cows with cold eyes", and who received "meat to thicken" their "sinew and leather"
for their "work boots and walking shoes". In "Born Too Late", Patrick similarly reflects on the
honest toil and sacrifice on the farm as opposed to the modern day city. He harkens back to a
more agrarian past - "the honest feel of plows that plant / and scythes that cut their supper".
Still other portraits describe cityscapes in surreal imagery. The New York night
in "Boning the Dreamers" is dark, hungry and predatory, searching out lonely souls,
broken hearts, and victims to be swallowed. The title hints at how this city can forsake
and destroy those who come there with their dreams. In "The Essex" we find the seedy side
of town, "sour air", "diseased wine", "a rusty blade", a place that has "teeth", "sidewalk
whores in hell's heels", "shabby rooms", "sweat" and "knife-edged clouds".
There is a sense of mourning, of time passing and its changes, the movement away from the
land to the urban setting. The sense of loss of grandfathers, grandmothers, uncles, fathers.
In "Smokey Mountain Symphony" a son in delivering his father's ashes is full of intimate remembrance.
He can feel his father in the landscape, and he can feel the cutting of his fingers on the strings
of his father's guitar.
Patrick Carrington deeply moves his reader through his language, its flowing alliteration,
the juxtaposition of soft and harsh sounds in his portraits of family, memorable acquaintances
and of the variety of landscape upon which they tread. With integrity he paints an emotional
mélange and demonstrates his intense compassion for nature and for human relationships. Rise,
Fall and Acceptance is a good read.
Patrick Carrington was born and raised in New York City. He has lived,
or at least slept and caused a modicum of trouble, in all 5 boroughs. He lives
now on a beach in southern New Jersey with his wife, where sheriffs and taxmen
either can’t find him or have decided he isn’t worth the effort. They have a son
and boatload of daughters roaming the shoreline somewhere.
He made a living catching fish, pounding nails, and mixing mayonnaise before deciding
teaching creative writing was easier on his hands, though his heart still hooks and hammers.
He no longer eats mayonnaise because he knows what’s in it.
He has taught in a variety of settings and levels, behind walls covered in both ivy and graffiti.
He appreciates the former but prefers the latter. An ex-student from a Brooklyn ghetto is now a best friend.
Students like him made wall-writings read like scripture.
Patrick has been nominated for the 2007 Pushcart Prize. His work can be found in numerous print
journals and anthologies, including Confrontation Magazine, The Roanoke Review, River Oak Review,
Slipstream, The Raintown Review, Epicenter, Sierra Nevada Review, Schuylkill Valley Journal,
Poetry Depth Quarterly, Timber Creek Review, Red Rock Review, Lullaby Hearse, Edgz, Caveat Lector,
Devil Blossoms, and Willard & Maple.
Email: Patrick Carrington
David Fraser lives in Nanoose Bay, on Vancouver Island.
He is the founder and editor of Ascent Aspirations Magazine, http:// www.ascentaspirations.ca,
since 1997. His poetry and short fiction have appeared in over 40 journals including Three Candles,
Regina Weese, Ardent, Quills and Ygdrasil. He has published a collection of his poetry,
Going to the Well (2004), a collection of short fiction, The Dark Side of the Billboard
(2006 )and edited and published the print issues of Ascent Aspirations Magazine Anthology One
(2005) , Anthology Two - Windfire (2006), and Anthology Three, AguaTerra (2007)
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/aapublishing.htm
A second collection of poetry, Running Down the Wind will appear in 2007.
David is currently the Federation of BC Writers Regional Director for The Islands Region.
His latest passion is developing Nanaimo's newest spoken word series, WordStorm, http://
www.ascentaspirations.ca/WordStorm.htm
David Fraser has a BA in English from University of Toronto, and an MEd in adult
education from OISE. In Ontario he taught English, Creative Writing Writer's Craft among other
subjects at the secondary school level for 30 years. He was the ski school director for High
Park Snow School for 8 years. Currently he is a full time writer who also teaches skiing at
Mt. Washington in the winter.
Email: David Fraser
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