Assignment #8: Literary Journal Review

After some searching, I stumbled upon the literary journal Field. It is published twice a year by Oberlin College, and each issue features a collection of different styles of poems from many different poets, as well as a small collection of critical essays relating to other published poems. There’s a list in the back of the book of the poet’s credentials, and almost everyone featured in the book has already produced at least one of their own books of poetry. Field is set up like a normal book – black text on normal paper white, nothing too fancy. However, the covers usually feature colorful/unique photos or pieces of art.
I took a look at the Spring 2006 edition of Field, and to say it was interesting would be an understatement. Now I don’t necessarily mean interesting as in “I must read more!” though some poems definitely fell under that category – I mean interesting as in “um… that’s pretty far out there.” Almost all of the poems are free verse, and that really lends itself to some creative (if not confusing) results from the poets. Some of the works were so “out there” that I thought they were writing in a form like N+7, but things seemed to fit just well enough that I concluded the poets were just being extremely abstract.
This really creative, somewhat abstract poetry – while difficult to comprehend sometimes – does produce some very cool lines. One of my favorites comes from Victoria Bosch Murray’s “Milking the Lion,” where one line simply states, “How do magnets reproduce?” While it is a very odd question to ask, considering magnets obviously don’t reproduce, it produces an image in your mind of thinking about something you’ve (probably) never thought about before – what would it be like if magnets did try to reproduce? Knowing that the ends push away from each other, it’s a humorous line that really stands out in her work.
My favorite poem from the issue would probably be Angela Ball’s “Singles.” Not only does it contain a cool, abstract line (“Sleep’s a jukebox in a defunct drive-in”), but it also expands on that metaphor by saying how “someone / Punches 68 and I dream suitcases. 89, / The dark-haired woman smiles, unties / A sheaf of billet doux.” I think it’s a neat, creative way to think about dreaming; what if someone really could control your dreams just by hitting a button and putting on their favorite “single” from the jukebox of your mind? I think all great works of art, written, aural, or visual have that in common, that they make you think.
A lot of the poetry in Field wasn’t quite to my liking however. As I said, most of it is abstract, and I had trouble being able to tell if there was a point to the poem, or if the poet was just going off on a tangent.
Overall, I’d say Field is worth looking into if you’re one for “out there” and abstract poems. What kept me reading was the occasional line of gold in a poem, but I didn’t enjoy too many of the poems as a whole. For that reason, I think I would personally hold off on picking up another issue, or at least consider skimming the next one for some cool lines.