LETTER OF MARQUE: ARTICLE THE TWELFTH

Behind the Rhododendron | Amanda Oaks

Poetry
8 pages
1 3/4” x 2”
Poems-For-All #710
24th Street Irregular Press
1008 24th St
Sacramento CA 95816 USA
Free, plus postage

This is yet another of the teeny tiny Poems-For-All series, itty bitty books distributed for free and containing one poem per book, left behind for the world to enjoy on buses and park benches, in coffee shops and libraries, hand-to-hand with friends or strangers. The books are beautifully put together, and I am quite in love with them.

This is another of Amanda Oaks' poems, this one not as lovey-dovey as the last one I reviewed, which gives it a little more appeal to me. The poem is actually quite fascinating, about some romp as a younger kid with a love (or even a deep friendship with a close friend, if not a love) out behind the rhododendron, through the gap in the fence, and into great-grandfather's orchard, feeling no fear or shame amidst a gunfire warning and a scrambling home before anyone could catch them. It is a story of innocence, of memory, of true feelings, wrapped up in the tiniest little package you have ever seen. Just darling.



•This book was sent to me by the author because I have corresponded with her.•
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LETTER OF MARQUE: ARTICLE THE ELEVENTH

Vishnu: The Train Ride to You | Amanda Oaks

Poetry
8 pages
1 3/4” x 2”
Poems-For-All #709
24th Street Irregular Press
1008 24th St
Sacramento CA 95816 USA
Free, plus postage

This might be the cutest, tiniest chapbook ever, and I am absolutely in love. In love, I tell you. Weighing in at half the size of a business card, this tiny book contains one poem between the most precious little covers ever. Did I mention that I am in love?

The poem, itself, is sweet, a love poem to someone it seems the author has not seen in a while, loaded in metaphors and swinging and swaying like crying willows and gentle rains. The love is real, dealing with personal human moments that are important to Amanda, a talented craftswoman, writing personally, yet universally:

[ ... ] i

could never craft
without you [ ... ]

But the real gem here is the pocket size of this book, and moreover, the idea behind it. The back cover tells it all:

Poems-For-All, scattered around town, on buses, trains, restrooms, coffee shops, left along with the tip; stuffed in a stranger's back pocket. Whatever. Wherever.

That's right, the free little books are scattered all over for the pure joy of spreading poetry to a world that desperately needs it. How lovely. The only problem, of course, is that the books are just too cute to pass on. No stranger or bartender or bus rider is going to get mine. I'm keeping it. Sorry, world, get your own damn poetry.

•This book was sent to me by the author because I have corresponded with her.•
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