Twists: Gathered Ephemera
Parisian Phoenix Publishing
$14.99
You can purchase a copy here.
Reviewed by Sean Hanrahan
You would be forgiven for thinking that the prolific and talented Lehigh Valley mainstay and founder of Stick Figure Poetry Quarterly, Darrell Parry, had already penned several poetry collections, but in fact Twists: Gathered Ephemera is his full-length debut. In this collection, even if you have never met Darrell, you will walk away feeling like you have spent an afternoon or evening conversing with a reflective and wise friend. Twists is full of epiphanic humor, wonder, and a gregariousness that floods the page to serve as a beacon during a distressing present.
Parry begins this book with the title poem, “Twists.” This elaborate poem chronicles the speaker’s individuality and how it twists from the oppressive quotidian. With succinct and heartbreaking insight, he writes
I am not like the others
That is something they will never understand,
something they twist and make their own
carving twisted images of me that are right
but are not actually right
The speaker in this poem does not mend, yes, he twists or “dance[s] through life never stopping to see their wrong and their right.” Full of advice and kind resistance to opprobrium, “Twists” powerfully sets the tone for the rest of this collection.
“Old Shoes” is a poem that married wisdom and a sense of whimsy that is a hallmark of Parry’s inimitable style. Any reader can relate to suddenly realizing that a well-worn pair of shoes can finally give up the ghost.
”They’re practically freakin’ new!”
But then,
when you think a while longer, you realize
that that day in your memory
was years ago
and now, it’s only your crappy
old pair of shoes
that really know
where the time has gone.
The subtle strength of this poem occurs when you realize the speaker has used a “crappy old pair of shoes” as a metaphysical signifier of the passing of time. Using an easy-to-understand yet surprising metaphor is a hallmark of a poet in complete control of their craft.
Parry’s remarkable gift for humor is evident in “Exorcism.” I dare anyone not to laugh out loud reading the opening stanza:
After the supernatural thriller
on Netflix I should really
have known better
than to try and clean my fridge
The speaker’s refrigerator is haunted by “all the ghosts in my house” somewhere “in the no man’s land/between the jellies and salsa.” This poem moves effortlessly from the hysterical to the serious with the final stanza packing an emotional wallolop.
I go in armed only
with a dishrag and soapy water
to exorcise my demons
and purge the evil from my home.
“Procession” is one of the standout poems from this collection. In this masterpiece, the speaker is running late and has to wait for a funeral cortège. Parry’s keen observational powers are in full display as the members of each car in the procession is described, until the speaker espies the following:
A Middle-Aged, Bald Man
with his index finger shoved
way up his left nostril.
The speaker muses that the deceased person in the hearse “Should be glad/He doesn’t have to witness this.” In his ending lines, Parry deftly manages to combine wit, humor, heartbreak, and brevity in a heady combination.
I’ll bet he’s smiling right now
and breathing a sigh of relief.
Because his wait is over
while I’m
still
sitting
here.
Lucky Stiff.
In this review, I can only skim the surface of the breath and depth of Parry’s wry and astute observations of life, love, loss, and the joy of living. When you close this book, you will want to go back to the beginning just like you want to return to those conversations that brighten your days. Twists is those conversations—at first held with a stranger, but soon held with a new-found friend. This book is the perfect anecdote to alienation and cynicism.
Sean Hanrahan is a Philadelphian poet originally hailing from Dale City, Virginia. He is the author of the full-length collection Safer Behind Popcorn (2019 Cajun Mutt Press) and the chapbooks Hardened Eyes on the Scan (2018 Moonstone Press) and Gay Cake (2020 Toho). His work has also been included in several anthologies, including Moonstone Featured Poets, Queer Around the World, and Stonewall’s Legacy, and several journals, including Impossible Archetype, Mobius, Peculiar, Poetica Review, and Voicemail Poems. He has taught classes titled A Chapbook in 49 Days and Ekphrastic Poetry and hosted poetry events throughout Philadelphia.