For Better Or Verse: A Collection Of Poems By Tom Guarnera (ISBN 0977155048)

The Poetic Side of Life:
In the introduction to "For Better or Verse," Tom Guarnera characterizes poetry as, by definition, "inescapably, even brazenly, self-conscious." It seems to follow, then, that a poet's life must be lived with a fair amount of self-consciousness as well. The greatest strength of this collection is the way that it takes unexceptional and highly accessible experiences, emotions, and relationships and looks at them with a poet's eye. Even though in "The Unaddicted Life" Tom describes himself as "Middle age, middle income, middlebrow / Middle of the road," his poetry makes clear that even "everyday" life can, just beneath the surface, be alive with poignancy and great significance. Many of us non-poets probably have a hint that that's the case in our own lives, but poetry's aforementioned self-consciousness makes it a uniquely suited art form to give those moments voice. Tom's deep understanding of poetry's strengths and his thoughtful, self-aware perspective makes him well-qualified to reveal to us the poetic side of life. There are some explicitly serious poems in this collection: "Noblesse Oblige," for example, relives a child's wonderment of adult-to-adult interaction as his volatile father offers a bum a cigarette rather than cursing him ("A birthright shared ... Out of thin air, to command respect and give it freely") and "The Letter of the Law" is about immigrants' lovingly decorated tenaments ("But I know something of loneliness, / of placebos embraced as a cure"). There are also some explicitly humorous poems, many of which deal with romantic relationships, jobs, and writing. Most common, however, are poems that find some degree of levity while still exploring profound themes. "The Miser's Dream," for example, recounts the old magician's trick where a coin is pulled from a volunteer's ear. It's a poem about the surprisingly humble scale of our fantasies (as well as about the nature of reading poetry), but it's written in a lighthearted and charming tone ("Within the grand cosmic scheme, / we settle for the Miser's Dream / Is being led by the nose / too high a price ... for magic?") that makes it both pleasurable to read--far too rare a trait in much modern poetry--and rewarding of deeper reflection. The same careful balance is struck throughout most of "For Better or Verse," making it highly recommended reading.

Definitely for better:
I grew up thinking that you can't judge a book by its cover, but Tom Guarnera's most recent collection of poems, "For Better or Verse," tells otherwise. Both tragedy and comedy, symbolized by the two masks on the cover, are seamlessly interwoven throughout the text. But unlike a lot of contemporary prose, where the majority of the text is funny and the remainder is tragically poignant, Guarnera's poetry embraces both themes simultaneously. In his poem entitled "After the Revolution," for example, Guarnera charts the baby boomer's transformation from the revolutionary 60's to the materialistic present day. Yet the poem doesn't strike the expected nostalgic note. He writes: "In my current, married life/there's no place for anarchy...yet I still find...the joy of screwing the world" (The pun is more obvious if you read the remainder of the poem). Here, Guarnera turns what could be a typical liberal lament into - you've guessed it - a moment of comedy. Funny, plain-spoken without being plain, poignant, personal and political, I encourage everyone to grab themselves a copy!