The book of poems, Where it Goes lends further testament to why its author Martina Reisz Newberry is one of the great present day poets. In this book Newberry once again demonstrates how she is the master of poetic storytelling as it relates to the human experience. As her word imagery tells the tale of life the pot stews with a magical blend of aromatic metaphor. The ebb and flow of metaphor within the poems of Where it Goes by Newberry is as simple, efficient and effective as economy of motion in nature. Much like when the apple drops from the tree to the ground and the recognizable thump is heard from a distance. Thus making her word imagery as illustratively significant to her poetic storytelling as the parables are in telling the tale of the Bible.
Newberry with a touch of genius in the poem A Day in the Death of Metaphors starting on page 68 of Where it Goes brilliantly teaches us all about the use of metaphor within poetic storytelling, she writes …..
“I’m sick of metaphors. All the stories and poems and essays are making me tired. They don’t mean what they say or they use curlicues and asterisks to say it. No, no metaphors not at least in this poem.”
And later on in the poem she writes …..
“Damn! I already broke my promise (the “kite-wise” thing, an obvious metaphor).”
Then lastly she writes ……..
“I have licked the frosting off the 21st century, as I’ve lived it so far, and (oh hell! another metaphor. I’m not even as good as my word. I’m sorry: I tried). What’s left is the end of this poem, which I hope has had its moments.
All this, all these words with a minimum of metaphors just to say that I am worried–for you, for me, for the most and least worthy of us. I guess it is best, just to assure you that tonight, when you are finished reading this,
you can turn out the light and close your eyes and, if you too are worried, know that I can give you this: you are not alone.”
In Where it Goes as with all the other books of poetry Martina Reisz Newberry has written over the years, you never feel alone; but through Newberry’s word imagery seasoned with the right amount of metaphor, the reader visually becomes a part of and lives the poetic storytelling experience. I read this book from front to back without putting it down ….. I highly recommend this same type of experience to anyone who wants to live the poetry of Martina Reisz Newberry. One of the greats !!!!!
~Keith Alan Hamilton~
Martina’s Featured Artist page at The Hamilton Gallery ~ Online.com https://www.thehamiltongalleryonline.com/blog/?page_id=384
