Tattoos and Scars
I was on fire, and no one will dare tell me different. —from “A Chain Unbending”
Tattoos and Scars is a dichotomy on the theme of self-destruction, alternately rejecting and embracing it. Steven Leake II knows much about substance dependency and a bit about mental illness, but he seems to be approaching a life transition to a more reflective existence.
I look at your cosmopolitan cliché
From my timeshare penthouse on the Styx,
And sigh with all the starlight diamonds I’ve lost.
The poet shares personal experience, but he’s freshest looking out through the eyes of someone quite different from himself, as in “Jose the Janitor.” While a number of poems are about a feeling of disconnection and lack a setting, the easier pieces to receive are routines rooted in specific locations. “nocturne” sets the scene well:
A smoke filled Irish pub.
Dim, the darkness floods from outside,
Velvet Underground lullabies
Filter.
in through starlight
Some of the most mature work includes effective combinations of setup and payoff, as here in “Po’ boys”:
the dance of hammers hitting strings
on a piano playing scales
then plunging seven stories to the sidewalk.
Literary associations are Milan Kundera, Hunter S. Thompson, James Joyce and repeatedly, Lewis Carroll. Identifiable musical references are the Velvet Underground, Smashing Pumpkins, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Nirvana and Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, who overdosed on the anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s suicide. The topic of sexual identity is touched on but not fully investigated. A strung-out resignation often dominates. Within that mode clusters of gripping lines can jump out, even while the overall poem trails off into vagueness, hits and clunks juxtaposed. In general, efforts at simple illumination succeed more reliably than more elaborate comparison:
The low life, so pure in its humble grace
Asks for nothing.
Steven Leake II grew up in York, South Carolina. He was a distance runner and a wrestler; he now fronts a grunge/blues band known as the Underground Kings. This is his first volume of poetry. Tattoos and Scars is a milepost for a bright young poet climbing out of his own experience, in the process of gaining awareness of other perspectives. With sustained determination and a commitment to constant improvement common to all serious writers, he will make it to the next level.
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
