Jeremy Shulkin: Introduction to Poems by Sarah Gengel

Sarah’s poems are modeled in their ability to create strong visuals; after reading her poetry the images stick in your mind, not because the subject matter is fantastic or so strange that they beg to be contemplated, but because she’s able to describe normal, everyday experiences with such clarity. In her poem “October” the description of a New England Autumn is aided by careful line-breaks, making the visual so strong it can be felt just as much as seen:

from the sharp air of October
in New England
where there is not much to talk about
besides the weather

In an excerpt from her other poem “The Flutist’s Pantoum” she takes something we don’t think of as physical, the theme of a song, and describes it so that the reader can actually see the “melodies that linger near the ceiling”.

Sarah’s love for music (she plays the flute and guitar, and sings) heavily influences her style: her visuals don’t rely on shock value or content to leave a lasting impression. Instead, her line breaks and juxtaposition of long and short lines work like a Jazz singer’s “phrasing”, intuitively letting the rhythm and the spacing of the words work just as hard as the words themselves. Somewhere, Billie Holiday is very jealous.



October

When did it all change?
my perspective of the leaves as a sort of nest
opposed to a laborious task
that precipitates another
long winter.
the wind burns
like whiskey
invigorating beauty, imagining
dragon’s breath on the trees, and I
playing in the ashes,
not knowing, but believing
my nest would protect me
from the sharp air of October
in New England
where there is not much to talk about
besides the weather


seeing the harvest moon for the first time
rising in between the trees
like a hot air balloon
on Halloween
I wrote spells
sending my broomstick
across an autumn sky
cape thrashing in the wind
flying towards the orange glow
of that harvest moon
conjuring Indian summer

--Sarah Gengel



The Flutist’s Pantoum

melodies linger near the ceiling

bright like the silver it came from

stories told in the Lydian mode

ancient traditions living

bright like the silver it came from

in the barroom a band plays

ancient traditions living

in the sleazy part of town

in the barroom a band plays

"Ilona Kudina," reeds

in the sleazy part of town

Latvian jazz princess plays "Soul Eyes"

"Ilona Kudina," reeds

Hopewellian panpipes were made of bone

Latvian jazz princess plays "Soul Eyes"

frequencies penetrating the human bone

Hopewellian panpipes are very old

The Greeks birthed the cool

frequencies penetrating the human bone

melodies linger near the ceiling

--Sarah Gengel