Flickers: Poems

By William Trowbridge

In his latest collection of poems, William Trowbridge explores the fascination Americans have with movies, how “flicks” allow us to temporarily forget our problems and, ironically, to forget that real conflicts are what make us human. The language he uses is the American language of pop culture: sports talk, movie talk, shoptalk, and clichés—all are blended together into carefully crafted lines that are uniquely Trowbridge’s. Readers will be delighted to follow each poem to its effectively understated end.
 
These poems are dark comedies that capture both the eerie and the ordinary. This balance is not easily achieved, but like a veteran comedian executing a pratfall, Trowbridge makes it all seem natural. His surreal family, the Glads, satirizes life in suburbia and reflects the often absurd margins of our urban lifestyle. By contrast, a group of poems revolving around a packing house in Kansas City (Trowbridge worked there as a young man), reminds us of those darker places in our lives that exist just “across the street from the ledgers and lapels.”
 
The variety of subjects Trowbridge works with is refreshing. Whether he is writing about Buster Keaton, Fred Astaire, June bugs, baseball, the holocaust, Cadillacs, or old dogs, his eye is always focused on the turn of phrase that will catch us off guard. His well-crafted lines are full of wit and humor. He approaches his subjects like Coyote approaches Fox—smiling, ready to expose his dear friend to the reality of his existence through sleight of hand. And, like Coyote, he teaches us to laugh at ourselves or perish under the weight of our everyday lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
• Release date: Jul 1, 2000
• ISBN: 9781610751599

William Trowbridge

William Trowbridge is the author of six full poetry collections and four chapbooks, including the poetry comic book Oldguy (Red Hen Press, 2016). His new collection is Vanishing Point (Red Hen Press, 2017). His awards include an Academy of American Poets Prize, a Pushcart Prize, a Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference scholarship, a Camber Press Poetry Chapbook Award, and fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, Ragdale, Yaddo, and The Anderson Center. The former Poet Laureate of Missouri (2012–2016), he teaches in the University of Nebraska Low-residency MFA in Writing Program and lives in the Kansas City area.

Book preview

FLICKERS

poems by

William Trowbridge

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS PRESS

Fayetteville

2000

Copyright © 2000 by William Trowbridge

All rights reserved

Manufactured in the United States of America

ISBN: 978-1-55728-586-7

eISBN: 978-1-61075-159-9

25    24    23    22    21        5    4    3    2

Designed by Liz Lester

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1984.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Trowbridge, William, 1941–

      Flickers / William Trowbridge.

            p.      cm.

      ISBN 1-55728-586-1 (alk. paper)

            I. Title.

      PS3570.R66 F55 2000

      811'.54 21—dc21

99-044257

For Robert Wallace

1932–1999

poet, editor, scholar, mentor, friend

and

William Frederick Trowbridge

September 27, 1999

grandson,

on his first day in the world

Acknowledgements

My thanks to the following periodicals, in whose pages these poems first appeared: Artful Dodge: Box Kite; Barrow Street: Gate; Blue Moon: Honey Wagon; The Chariton Review: Summer’s Almost Gone, American Primitive; The Chattahoochee Review: Shoes, Playing Dead; Chelsea: Fall Guys, Gotta Dance; Confrontation: In Memoriam: Duffy; Connecticut Review: Monster; Crazyhorse: At Sunset Palms; The Florida Review: Stamps of the World!; Flyway: Gorgeous George; The Gettysburg Review: The Art of Vanishing; The Georgia Review: First Book of Shadow, Flickers, Poets’ Corner; Great River Review: His Greatest Moments, Trip to the Middle Ages, Curtain Call; The Missouri Review: Walking Out; The Nebraska Review: Good-by, Angel of Death; New Letters: Pale Riders, The Fuhrer to His Eva, Polacks, Blood, Smell, Glad Wrap, Glad to Meet You, Jesus, Button Your Lip; New Orleans Review: Coat of Arms; Pivot: The Band Director’s Farewell; Prairie Schooner: Suckers, Uncle Miltie; River City: The Glads at Home on Memorial Day, Glad All Over, Glad Tidings; The Southern Review: Dog Tags; Spoon River Poetry Quarterly: Visit, Interview (originally titled Dmitri), June Bugs, Eating the Menu; Tar River Poetry: At the Antique Toy Museum, Losing It; Yarrow: Hard.

My sincerest thanks also to Robert Wallace, Jonathan Holden, Jim Simmerman, David Citino, David Slater, Catie Rosemurgy, and Beth Richards, friends who lent their time and expertise to help in the making of this book. And thanks to the Anderson Center and the Ragdale Foundation, at whose accommodations many of the poems were written.

Contents

I

The Art of Vanishing

Eating the Menu

Uncle Miltie

Gorgeous George

Walking Out

At the Antique Toy Museum

Losing It

First Book of Shadow

Fall Guys

His Greatest Moments

June Bugs

Gotta Dance

Summer’s Almost Gone

Flickers

American Primitive

II

Glad Wrap

The Glads at Home on Memorial Day

Glad to Meet You, Jesus

Glad All Over

Gladiola

To Be or Not to Be Glad

Glad Rags

Dad Glad Has a Conniption

Glad Tidings

III

Monster

Shoes

The Fuhrer to His Eva

Honey Wagon: An Historical Poem

Good-By, Angel of Death

Interview

Pale Riders

The Packing House Cantata

Trip to the Middle Ages

Supply and Demand

IV

Playing Dead

Stamps of the World!

Dog Tags

Button Your Lip

Poets’ Corner

Alien

Coat of Arms

At Sunset Palms

The Kiss of Death

Visit

In Memoriam: Duffy

The Band Director’s Farewell

Box Kite

Cadillac

Suckers

Curtain Call

I

The Art of Vanishing

"I just don’t