Language & Grammar discussion

Here's a review of my reading last Thursday, by Marsha Lee Binnquist Schuh. To say I'm thrilled is an understatement.

An Evening of Poetry and 'Poignant Truths"

Last night, March 5, 2015, I talked my husband into attending the Arts Walk “Evening of Poetry and ‘Poignant Truths’ at the Riverside Public Library downtown featuring poet and artist, Ruth Bavetta. The DH (dear husband) was a little apprehensive because he’s never had to “sit still and listen to poetry for an hour”—except my own, that is. I was looking forward to the evening, having sampled some of Ruth’s poetry online, and I was anxious to hear her read from her new book, Embers on the Stairs.

The evening was not only inspiring, encouraging, and downright fun, but it also proved to be the best introduction to poetry I could have chosen for my husband’s encounter with other people who “actually think like you do” — people who enjoy image and metaphor, love words and books, and write poetry, of all things!

I think she had him at “Elegy for My 1958 Volkswagen.” He looked at me and grinned. “Like you,” he whispered, “She’s a kindred spirit.” I owned a 1957 Volkswagen bug named Ralph Schmedlitz, and Bavetta’s spot-on description , “Four cylinders chugging/in the rear, it was like being chased/by a busy washing machine” described my first love Ralph exactly.

Bavetta’s language is simple and direct, her poetry not in any way obscure, but her “poignant truths” capture the reader—or listener—in a grip that won’t let go even hours, days, perhaps years later. They speak to the heart long after one’s first encounter. One of the ways Bavetta does this is through her vivid images that capture the essence of the moment. The other is in the subtle “turns” that occur at unexpected moments.

I guess one of the qualities I appreciated most from Bavetta’s poetry is the fact that it is the offering of a seasoned writer, a woman who has experienced the “bitter with the better.” Here are moments of heart-wrenching truth, a look at the inconveniences and agonies of age and disease that we all must face, now or later. Here also are moments of sheer joy– life with all its blessings and absurdities. Humor is always twinkling in the background of Bavetta’s poetry, ready to jump in when we least expect it. For example, in her poem “Addictions,” she says, “Learning something new/ is the most exciting thing I know,/ better than sex, almost,/ but sex/ I can do/ without my glasses.” What “seasoned” woman would not appreciate those lines?

If you’d like to sample Bavetta’s poetry AND incredible art, visit her website, http://www.ruthbavetta.com. She does the most extraordinary “erasure” poetry I’ve ever seen. How I wish I could combine art and poetry as she does. check it out under the tab “Visual Poetry.”

I was so taken with Ruth’s poetry that although I had intended to buy just a copy of Embers on the Stairs, I picked up her first book Fugitive Pigments, planning to choose between the two. When the reading ended, I decided that I couldn’t choose and bought both. My husband did not complain. In fact, he handed me the extra cash to make up the difference and said, “Oh well, one more book—no problem.” I knew when he said, “I’d come to one of these readings again” that Ruth Bavetta had scored a consummate success. THAT is one of Mr. Schuh’s highest forms of praise. Bravo, Ruth!

Damn, Girl! You are so goood!

Nice, nice review. And so, so true, every bit of it.