{"id":11892,"date":"2020-12-12T18:39:47","date_gmt":"2020-12-12T17:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11892"},"modified":"2020-12-12T18:41:02","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T17:41:02","slug":"arthur-sze-sight-lines-reviewed-by-ian-pople","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11892","title":{"rendered":"Arthur Sze | Sight Lines<\/em><\/strong> | reviewed by Ian Pople"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arthur Sze <\/span><\/span>Sight Lines <\/i><\/span><\/span>Copper Canyon Press $16.00 <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I had not encountered Arthur Sze\u2019s poetry before and his approach is one of the most interesting and surprising that I\u2019ve come across in a long time. It is almost as if Sze is a L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poet with images. The images roll out and around in Sze\u2019s poems in the way that the surface is disrupted in L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry. And there are disjunctions between the imagery which has the \u2018feel\u2019 of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E disruption. The blurb on the back of <\/span><\/span>Sight Lines <\/i><\/span><\/span>calls this, \u2018formal disruption, legible erasure, and a diversity of voices.\u2019 At the same time, the poems often start and finish inside similar image frames. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Under a Rising Moon\u2019, for example, begins \u2018Driving at night between Chinle and Tsaile, \/ I fixate on deer along the road: in the headlights\u2019. In the middle of the poem, there is a return to that world with \u2018Though warned of elk, \/ I heed the car with a single headlight enlarging \/ in my rearview mirror.\u2019 The poem finishes with \u2018tonight \/ tracks of moonlight run ahead of where I can be.\u2019 Between the episodes of that particular narrative, we get an unglazed pot, a \u2018man who flies by helicopter\u2019, and, \u2018<\/span><\/span>Din\u00e9 women tied their infants \/ on cradleboards, stashed them in crevices \/ but never came back.\u2019 <\/i><\/span><\/span>Of course, by cutting away the context, I\u2019ve made the images seem more separate, perhaps, than they might appear to others. One of the ways in which Sze seems to give context to these images is because of the warmth of voice and style that Sze has. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Another technical resource that Sze has is his facility with precise description. The poem, \u2018The Radiant\u2019s\u2019 whose title contains that interesting elision, carries onto the first line with \u2018the origin point of a meteor shower.\u2019 Next, Sze describes, \u2018Peaches redden: branches \/ are propped with juniper posts \/\/ and a shovel; \u2018 The poem ends with \u2018We do not lie \/\/ in a meadow to view the Perseids \/ but discover, behind a motel, \/ a vineyard, and gather as we go.\u2019 Verbs are clearly very important to Sze; the \u2018redden\u2019, \u2018propped\u2019, \u2018lie\u2019, \u2018view\u2019, \u2018discover\u2019, \u2018gather\u2019 and \u2018go\u2019 give the writing a momentum which carries it down the stepped lines. This momentum is carried to that last \u2018go\u2019 which pushes out beyond the end of the poem. Then there are the physical details that link the verbs, the juniper posts and shovels which prop the branches. And that inner sense of the decision not to lie down to watch the Perseids as they pass overhead. The combined accumulations are neatly delineated. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sze\u2019s approach, then, is palpably physical. If the movement through the trajectory of a poem responds to Sze\u2019s response to \u2018things being various\u2019; the dance of the observing mind through the <\/span><\/span>things<\/i><\/span><\/span> it encounters and processes. Then the things themselves are palpable, closely observed, and brought in through the surface of the poem. Sze is clearly an amazing botanist with a daunting knowledge of plants and their names, in a generation of American poets who all seem au fait with the plants they live among. There is with this empiricism a willingness to explore what might be beyond In \u2018Unpacking a Globe\u2019, Sze describes a coyote trotting across in front of the headlights of his car. His response to that is \u2018\u2026that\u2019s how \/ I want to live on this planet: \/ alive to a rabbit at a glass door – \/ and flower where there is no flower.\u2019 This is, perhaps, an appeal to his own imagination. And yet, these \u2018imaginings\u2019 are prefaced by the encounter with the coyote; one of those \u2018typical\u2019 encounters between man and animal, the human \u2018safe\u2019 inside their car, and the coyote \u2018safe\u2019 and insouciant outside the car. It is that interface between the real world and the imagined world that Sze charts so successfully. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There is, of course, an environmental aspect to all this. And Sze is never afraid of plain statement. In \u2018Doppler Effect\u2019, for example, \u2018radioactive water trickles underground \/ toward the Pacific Ocean; nickel and copper \/ particulates contaminate the Brocade River. \/ Will this planet sustain ten billion people?\u2019 The plain statement is earned, perhaps, by the physicality and precision found in the rest of the writing. That detailed precision, ironically, provides the grounding for the plain statement where, normally, the facts would need examples to support them. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There are humans in this collection. Sometimes, they arrive a little glancingly and their activities illustrate human sensitivity, and insensitivity, towards the natural world: \u2018an accountant \/ yearns to stroll in a meadow\u2019; \u2018medical researchers extract saliva \/ from Gila monsters, draw blue blood \/ from horseshoe crabs\u2019. Elsewhere, humans are simply humans; \u2018a lawyer \/ dates his boss but one day he handcuffs and assaults her, \/ breaks two bones in her face as she begs for her life \u2013 \u2018. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This is an intense, occasionally unremitting book. As he himself comments, \u2018<\/span><\/span>A poem can never be too dark\u2019 <\/i><\/span><\/span>[his italics]. And the poems are placed in small subsections divided by pages with epigraphs from I\u2019m assuming, Sze himself. A couple of these will illustrate: \u2018- During the Cultural Revolution, a boy saw his mother shot dead by a firing squad \u2013\u2018 and \u2018- A woman detonates when a spam text triggers bombs strapped to her body \u2013\u2018 I wonder whether Sze doesn\u2019t do himself a slight disservice with such epigraphs. Sze\u2019s mind flickers over the natural world how humans inhabit and control the Anthropocene. The effect is to put the things he sees into sharp contrast and relief. Sze shows us with considerable efficacy and delicacy just how out of kilter that world is without, perhaps, the graphic detail of these epigraphs. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

by Ian Pople<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arthur Sze Sight Lines Copper Canyon Press $16.00 I had not encountered Arthur Sze\u2019s poetry before and his approach is one of the most interesting and surprising that I\u2019ve come across in a long time. It is almost as if Sze is a L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poet with images. The images roll out and around in Sze\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[13,283],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nArthur Sze | Sight Lines | reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11892\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arthur Sze | Sight Lines | reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Arthur Sze Sight Lines Copper Canyon Press $16.00 I had not encountered Arthur Sze\u2019s poetry before and his approach is one of the most interesting and surprising that I\u2019ve come across in a long time. It is almost as if Sze is a L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poet with images. The images roll out and around in Sze\u2019s […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11892\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-12T17:39:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-12T17:41:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i.postimg.cc\/fbK28WLm\/download.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ian Pople\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ian Pople\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11892\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11892\",\"name\":\"Arthur Sze | Sight Lines | reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-12T17:39:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-12T17:41:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11892#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11892\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11892#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Arthur Sze | Sight Lines | reviewed by Ian Pople\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"description\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9\",\"name\":\"Ian Pople\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"caption\":\"Ian Pople\"},\"description\":\"Ian Pople's Spillway is published by Anstruther Press.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=21\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Arthur Sze | Sight Lines | reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11892","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Arthur Sze | Sight Lines | reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review","og_description":"Arthur Sze Sight Lines Copper Canyon Press $16.00 I had not encountered Arthur Sze\u2019s poetry before and his approach is one of the most interesting and surprising that I\u2019ve come across in a long time. It is almost as if Sze is a L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poet with images. The images roll out and around in Sze\u2019s […]","og_url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11892","og_site_name":"The Manchester Review","article_published_time":"2020-12-12T17:39:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-12-12T17:41:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/i.postimg.cc\/fbK28WLm\/download.jpg"}],"author":"Ian Pople","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ian Pople","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11892","url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11892","name":"Arthur Sze | Sight Lines | reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-12-12T17:39:47+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-12T17:41:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11892#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11892"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11892#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Arthur Sze | Sight Lines | reviewed by Ian Pople"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/","name":"The Manchester Review","description":"The Manchester Review","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9","name":"Ian Pople","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","caption":"Ian Pople"},"description":"Ian Pople's Spillway is published by Anstruther Press.","url":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=21"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2PuXo-35O","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11892"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11892"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11894,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11892\/revisions\/11894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}