Show Tunes
Iniquity Press/Vendetta Books
$10.00
You can purchase your copy here.
Reviewed by Sean Hanrahan
Anyone who has seen local legend, Joe Roarty, perform at Fergie’s Pub or other venues around Philadelphia knows to expect poetry that is original, explosive, humorous, and, literally, percussive. For the uninitiated, Roarty performs his poems accompanied by a hand drum, which accentuates the incantatory, effect of his at turns celebratory, satiric, lyric, and rant-fueled poems. Roarty is like no other poet on the local scene, and I, for one, was excited to dive into his latest collection, Showtunes.
One poem that stood out to me is titled “aftr my father dies i go 2 applebees.” It may because, personal disclosure, I hate Applebees and have a negative dining experience of eating there after my grandmother’s funeral. Back to this funny and heartbreaking poem. He sums up the tastes of his deceased father with the propulsive lines:
applebees is n th suburbs
& my fathr was a man of th suburbs
mainly
he liked 2 drink thr
he liked wine
& he wasn’t particular
so applebees was perfct
Even while writing this suburban ode to his father, Roarty introduces (in true bohemian deadpan style) a sociopolitical comment: “i red where applebees treats thr mployees badly/so its not a place I normally go 2.” As he mourns his father, he comes to the realization that Applebees are around
where nothing has 2 add up
& u can sit n a booth
& drink & cry if u want 2
nobody minds if you pay yr bill
tip th waitress
& only hav a short drive home
The political resurfaces throughout Roarty’s work, and it does so poignantly in “america u drive a hard bargn.” He begins this assessment of modern America life with the breathlessly perfect lines:
america u drive a hard bargn
u drive a fast car
everyone pays 2 b who they r
2 gt wher they want 2 go
th only law is don’t go slow
This poem continues to discuss capitalism: “america u drive a hard bargn/th sales pitch/the bait & switch.” It even echoes Thelma and Louise, or at least to this cineaste’s mind, “i was driving a fast car but i wasn’t getting anywhere…i was yelling nto th grand canyon/my voice came bak like i was trying 2 sell myself something.” He ends this travelogue diatribe aptly comparing america (lowercase deliberate) to a “usd car lot.” Now, imagine this poem with percussion!
One of the poems in which I believe Roarty’s rhythmic and sonic effects mirror the intensity of his live performances most clearly is “watt yr gtting nto.”
hit by a wave
drivn down
sand rasping
salt stinging
ears crashing
th tip
of an uncontrollabl force
carelessly nokking u down
In the end the poem is about love and loss with the aching force of the stanza:
u don’t wanna
nd up
lft on th shore
watching yr lovr sail away
We learn how Roarty first learned to love the drum that features so singularly during his readings in the poem, “wagon train:”
sometimes i wd go ovr 2 ricky’s hous
we wd go down 2 th basement
that’s where his fathr’s drum kit was
& if u touchd it it let out
this sound
like a pistl shot or a door cracking opn
Unfortunately for Roarty’s childhood friend, Ricky, drum practice conflicted with the airing of Wagon Train. Ricky’s father was a drummer before he became a salesman, and there is the intimation Ricky may face the same fate when he grows up. As the adventures of Wagon Train fade in Ricky’s earnest attempts to become a drummer, he, like a fairy tale dragon or baddie in a Western, hoards the musical magic for himself:
he wanted 2 play th drums
but he cd only touch
those gleaming drums…
so wn i
ntranced by thr harsh geometry
touched th snare
& its acidic xplosiv tone
a pistl shot
filld th basement
ricky told me
no
And thus, an iconoclast was born!
Showtunes is a marvelous collection encasing Roarty’s unique style. He channels the Beats without parodying them. When I read or hear his work, I am transported to the fifties/sixties as well as today. He is humorous, sly, political. He muses on the difficult, the strange, the overlooked. He brings to mind the Beat poets or the poète Maudite like Rimbaud or Villon. Buy Showtunes and surrender to its percussive insight and beauty!
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.