Tuesday, November 4, 2008

October 2008 page 5

'Nakayubi Three:
the unmeaning and the holy city' by Dave Besseling


A Review by Bernard Alain

Dave Besseling's work finds itself at the defining edge of contemporary poetry, implementing text shape and sometimes photography to provide a microscopic view of various cultures and practices. The reflections are a result of almost seven years of travelling and living abroad as an artist and journalist. The voice is generally consistent among publications, leaving the sense of mild cultural shock with the reader, often purposely archaic in it's phrasing and in-your-face as a lack of emenities and ethics become evident while hiking through a contrast of religious and political domains.

'Nakayubi Three: the unmeaning and the holy city' for the most part, is consistent with this standard and the photography and content well placed to provide a unique cross-section of rural India, focusing on the travels through the various locales leading up to Varanasi, the oldest city in the world. The journey is speckled with a few guest appearances from the infamous Dr. Heagney, Besseling's real-life mentor and as well includes color close-ups revealing unique angles of the architecture, the locals and their paraphernalia. The cover deserving mention as the front and back are one continuous photograph of a wall around the holy city, creating the feel of a more intimate wall around his own thoughts. The content is creative and engaging with profanities that seem to mutate out of circumstance, more colloquial in expression. The following is a closing quote from the poem Varanasi:


I asked of the unmeaning:
- What is the point of this life?
It replied:
- First, you live it; then you die it. Enjoy the music.


Although I miss the GPS co-ordinates, a unique deviation in form used in his previous poetry publications, the compression of locales possibly make it less significant and the photography easily compensates for it's absence.

'Nakayubi Three: the unmeaning and the holy city' is a great addition to any poetry collection and will easily satisfy medium to advanced readers.





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Contributors:

Gale Acuff
Anatholie Alain
Bernard Alain
RD Armstrong
George Anderson
Michael Annis
Meme Arte
Kush Arora
Sofiul Azam
Dunstan Attard
CL Bledsoe
Lancillotto Bellini
Dave Besseling
Dianne Borsenik
Janice Brabaw
Bettina Burch
John Burroughs
Alex Bustillo
David Cheezem
Tasha Cotter
Ivan Donn Carswell
Sarah Cabrera
Dana A. Campbell
Brenda Cook
Don Coorough
Jeff Crouch
Aleathia Drehmer
James H Duncan
Demetrius Daniel
Tatjana Debeljacki
Michael Dickel 
Nabina Das
Janice Dayton
Renee Dwyer
DubbleX
Stephanie Edwards
Milton P. Ehrlich
AnnMarie Eldon
Dr. Kane X. Faucher
Adam Fieled
Emad Fouad
Tiziano Fratus
John C. Goodman
Joseph Goosey
Willow Gray
Will Hames
Nick Harris
Stu Hatton
Shell Heller
Kyle Hemmings
Charles Hice
Thomas Hubbard
Oritsegbemi Emmanuel Jakpa
Marco Kaufman
Penn Kemp
Ruth  Ellen Kocher
Engin Korkmaz
Dimitris P. Kraniotis
Yahia Lababidi
Chris Labrenz
Jackson Lassiter
Joy Leftow
Heller Levinson
Ira Lightman
Louis K. Lowy
Ross McCague
Stephen Murray
Ngoma
Carl Palmer
Helen Peterson
Kate Peterson 
Elaine Rosenberg Miller
Carolyn Srygley-Moore
Todd Moore
Steve Nash
Paul Niziol
Valery Oisteanu
Charles Potts
Nicoletta A. Poulakida
Casey Quinn
Barbara Reiher-Meyers
Randall Radic
Sadiq Rahman
Dibyajyoti Sarma
Don Schaeffer
Bobby Slais (R Jay)
Patricia Smith
Ruth Spalding
Edward Sobanski
Tanuj Solanki
Don Stabler
Ana Stjelja
Thiery Tillier
Paul A. Toth
C. Derick Varn
Rodrigo Verdugo
Teresa White
Sharon Boyle-Woods
Anne Harding Woodworth
John Yamrus
Changming Yuan