The Spaces Between Things

The latest collection of Linda Benninghoff’s poems is here under the title The Spaces Between Things (erbacce-press, Liverpool, 2008). Like her previous chapbook departures, this collection brings memories of childhood, friends, family, and experiences of natural elements (animals, trees, water, and weather) to life. The 34 poems in this short book deal with the experience of feeling the space between things and how it relates to our definition of life as a conscious individual. Language and compassion transcend the physical barriers while the unstoppable arrow of time marks the position of our individual existence as a being apart from all the rest. Benninghoff certainly writes more with her brains while making room for the beat of her heart in her unrhymed verse.

The Spaces Between Things is intimately involved with the theme of ‘change’. As we move through time, a sense of sameness remains as the essential core of our self but a lot of scenes change on the canvas of life. The two states are often reconciled by the silence of the memory of our past. But there are times when our mind considers things in a questioning mood. Thus Benninghoff asks why her father would not give her the same degree of support as he did when she was a child (Hyannisport). What has changed in the process of becoming an independent individual? Even things that we consider our ‘own’ may not be so when viewed in the context of this constant flux. In Butterflies, for example, we read:

‘I know I have never owned anything
not my hands, my thoughts
nor even the butterflies’

The Spaces Between Things comes without any prelude or formal introduction. Linda Benninghoff does not choose to interpose her presence between her poetic work and its audience. The effect is immediacy of getting to see the scenes she paints with her words. The world of her observation and imagination is peaceful, natural, and beautiful with birds, trees, family, friends, and more.

ISBN: 978-1-906588-12-0

Availability

http://www.erbacce-press.com/#/lindabenninghoff/4527889939

Random Thoughts

Letting one’s thoughts ramble is sometimes a delightful venture. Meaning and order may arise from the apparent randomness, like the Brownian motion of particles that determine the temperature of an object. Howard Wu’s anthology Random Thoughts (Trafford Publishing, British Columbia, 2008) is an instance of creating meaning through randomness of thought and content.

The eight entries chosen for Random Thoughts vary in genres and subject mater, hence the complier’s choice of the word ‘random’. The structure of all pieces, except one however, is fairly consistent. The mode is inquisitive and disposed toward criticism, though situations vary widely from the exploration of identity (Deep Thoughts) to an adventurous quest (The World After) and the authoritative control of behavior against innovation (im in punctuation prison).

What makes Random Thoughts unique is the fact that all the entries have been published nearly unedited. The typos and grammatical errors are there and they speak for the book’s gist: the need for sense precedes that of formal accuracy in linguistic expression. Lloyd Hudson Frye’s im in punctuation prison expressly calls for a refinement of thought that would aim at the greater purpose of meaning. Howard Wu is to be credited for putting together a nice collection of thoughts, all random but well worth considering.

ISBN: 9781425162382

Availability

http://www.trafford.com/07-2847