Brian Beatty's "Borrowed Trouble" is a powerful collection of around sixty well-written poetic essays done in the style of each individual poet. While learning about an aspect of a poet, Brian's reader also learns about the style of the poet.
When Brian was studying poets and choosing the poets he was going to study - he was not focused on religion, race, where (or if) they went to school, what sex they decided they would claim (if any), what prizes they won. It just happened - a mere stroke of luck that each one was an individual distinct and far apart from the others (except for of course the father and son, who obviously knew a little about each other).
This beautiful little book has gay poets, lesbian poets, transexual poets. He has men and women poets. He has well-adjusted poets and insane poets. He has old poets and young poets. He has buddhist, jewish, muslim, atheist and even one openly christian poet. He has academic poets, and non-academic poets. He has poets who won the pulitzer (read large press), and poets who won the Pushcart (read collegiate press). He has poets who stumbled along through life despite the odds and poets who committed suicide far too young. He has black poets, hispanic poets, and white poets. He has American poets, European poets, Canadian poets, and South American poets. All without trying.
See, when you start to study poets you are not concerned about their sexual, political or religious affiliation. All you worry about as a reader is - "does this poet speak truth?" And that 's enough.
Brian found sixty poets who speak truth to share with us, and I love him for that. If his little book encourages you to purchase three or four other little books of poetry by a poet you were previously unaware of, Brian did his job. Good times! While you can go back and read every single one of Brian's essays on-line at any time, I encourage you to pick up a hard copy of "Borrowed Trouble". The book is small enough that you can carry it with you everywhere you go. If it means going without a cup of coffee or 1/2 a glass of beer for a day, so be it. It's $6 well spent to make your mind feel great about the great big world of poetry.
So, a big thank you to Brian! You can find him on facebook and send him a note of thanks, and keep up with all the new things he is up to. I will end this tribute with Brian speaking about himself and his purpose for writing Borrowed Trouble:
"I wouldn’t even do this if it weren’t for myriad writers before me whose works showed me what could be done. The poems in this book are small offerings of respect, of thanks, to those muses.
I had only one rule to be considered for this sequence: Honored poets had to be dead. Because the thought that folks might see what I’d done to their good names was beyond embarrassing.
So this is only a partial document of my personal literary canon. I read just as many, if not more, living writers as I do dead writers. They should thank me for sparing them micro-tributes.
What kind of trouble have I borrowed, exactly? Elements of style and subject matter mostly. That said, my own odd quirks as a writer are as apparent as ever. Cowboys and bears abound. As does the idea that Ohio is dark, doomed place I was happy to leave. I write from experience.
If this book doesn’t entertain you in some modest way, that’s entirely my doing. My failure. Sorry.
I wish you luck finding poets whose writing moves you like I’ve been moved by the works of the poets here." - Brian Beatty. Amen.
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Brian's recent collections of poetry are Dust and Stars: Miniatures and Brazil, Indiana.
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I've been honored to have this incredible opportunity to share my work. My thanks to everybody associated with Cholla Needles.
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