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Reviews
Booklife
Part political commentary, part confrontation with
history, Conway’s pained, scathing collection reconsiders historical moments
that no one would deem the brightest hour for nations and peoples, opening with
the powerful “The Consequences of a Blackman Bringing Fire,” about the shooting
of Martin Luther King Jr, and moving on with titles like “An Abrupt Flash of
Hell in Urbania.” Illustrations created by Hampton R. Olfus Jr. illuminate the
darkest moments, the sketches breaking through the white of the page as if to
show the shadows the light is trying to burn out, and Conway offers some
reprieves, such as a paean spending the night with someone beautiful or
observing a dragonfly skirting above the surface of water without care of what
might lie beneath. Those moments propel readers (and possibly the poet) to keep
going, an encouragement to push forward.
Conway’s poems face injustices of global history, in the
Americas and South Africa and China and more, often sharply critiquing systems
of power that have not just allowed atrocities and apathy but encouraged them.
The bluntly titled “A Progressive Act of Land Reform, As Viewed by a Latin
American Child” summons up the vulnerability of having nowhere to turn as the
powers that be destroy the Earth itself—”brown earth-flesh” spatters against
this El Salvadoran’s “tin casa” like “rain falling against an empty Campbell’s
/ soup can.”
The Poetic
Vibrations of a Matured Butterfly is raw yet ethereal, a
dream journal linking powerful injustices throughout history into an
interrelated whole, tied together by a vigorous clarity of language, especially
in the occasional short poems that open with “Oppression is …” and then offer
ever-evolving examples that each connect to the same enduring root problem. The
collection builds to the powerful image, in the penultimate poem, of “…a mighty
Panther devouring a dead, tainted Eagles / flesh…” The reincarnation detailed
afterwards gives a sense of change–of hope–despite all the scenes of misused
power that precede it. Conway brings fire.
Takeaway: A pained, potent collection of poems on global injustice,
oppression, and even hope.
Great for fans
of: JP Howard, Larry Neal, Haki R. Madhubuti.
Available from these ebook stores:
A Review
"The
Poetic Vibrations of a Matured Butterfly," is an incredible first
collection of work by Arthur Lee Conway that accentuates the stitches of
reality through well-crafted lyrical and prose poems. Weaving current events,
personal experience, history and even mythology he poignantly captures the pain
and joys of life.
Conway's
book of poetry is hauntingly illustrated by Hampton R. Olfus, Jr. with numerous
dark but poignant images. The black and white drawings chillingly attempt to
reveal Conway's vignettes of life that he paints with surprising figurative
language and visceral imagery. Conway's words, and the drawings by Olfus
results in an eerily effective delivery of passionate feelings and emotions.
Conway's
prose is a balance of life's cherished occasions with the equally precious
moments of inevitable death. However, there is a deep sadness resonating
throughout his collection.
In a
piece titled "Angst I," Conway writes:
The fear
of being alone can be like man's secularized concept of God's imminent return.
.. that only extroverted sinners will perish in Gehenna. While the earthly
Spokesmen of God's Word will flourish eternally in some cinematic kingdom in
the sky.
Conway's
multi-dimensional themes keep the reader engaged throughout. He explores
"Oppression," in its many permutations - familial, relational,
personal, geographic, musical, social, spiritual, etc. Many
of his
verses convey feelings that stay with the reader long after the book is read.
The emotional resonance is entangled with his weaving of origins of a people cursed
today with scars of yesterday. He writes of the poem's characters seeking
feelings, but experiencing only a world of numbness. He often expresses loss
with a juxtaposition of visceral, physical imagery with a tone of clinical
coldness and detachment.
"The
Poetic Vibrations of a Matured Butterfly," is a book of reflections of
grief and loss, and the processing of those emotions. Conway pays tribute to
Martin Luther King in, "The Consequences of a Blackman Bringing
Fire," which speaks to social dynamics. But some reflections express the
warmth that certain memories provide as in:
Nostalgia
sometimes encircles a man
like the
wintry wind; making him draw his coat
tightly
and, reside in the warmth that it provides.
A lot of
dark images bubbled to the surface while I read these poems, but regardless
overall it was an exciting collection of poetry. I think you'll find that
Arthur Lee Conway is a poet to read now and to watch in the future.
Cin Win Review on the Butterfly book:
New Release
An excerpt:
The Hunt
Once upon a time in the City of Angels, a Kafkaesque character named R.K. was motoring along at a top rate of speed… zipping through the urban jungle of Sinclairian madness. When like a sudden nuclear flash, a group of soldiers in a squad car with the LAPD emblem on the door appeared; they were pointing, signaling with their stubby fingers for him to pull over. R.K. was not certain of their intentions; seeing that it was quite dark outside, he just sped away. That impulsive act only spurred, fueled the soldiers seething desire for the kill. R.K. held the pedal against the metal, as the car shot through the city street like a jackrabbit racing ahead of a coyote. But to no avail, because like a pack of wolves chasing their prey… they got stronger as the aromatic smell of blood filled their nostrils. R.K. slowed. Finally, R.K. and his friends were surrounded like a bunch of pioneers cowering (see R.K. was not alone) in their covered wagons; while hostile Indians circle them like one might see in a good old John Wayne B movie.
“Get out of the car, Mr. Fox!,” yelled the soldier in charge.
The Avenue,
or the Day Marcia Williams was Killed
a stray bullet smashing a window
like a fallen chandelier shattering
against a marble floor: a spray of hair
sweeping across an un-attended steering
wheel
like a peacock’s feathers… children
staggering
out of now unfamiliar doors; racing
into the mist of terror-stricken faces flanking an
ever restive Avenue.
ORWELLIAN YEARS I
In the Orwellian years…
People were like ancient Birds
Lightning through earthly, concrete
Skies of disinformation. Yes, mentally,
They were like Kiwis in physique…
vestiges of evolution.
BANISHMENT
I dreamt
last night
that Man
cast McCarthy
out of the Garden of Democracy.
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