The Fragile Thread weaves harsh reality into exquisite poetry
Reviewed by Billie Houston
"The Blue Iris Journal - July 2000"
The most striking feature in this collection of poetry is its passionate
intensity. Through the creation of images that are mentally explicit,
emotionally exacting and brilliantly original, Yolanda Gallardo brings
order from chaos and transforms ugliness into beauty by measuring
experience against meaning and dramatizing it.
Many of the poems are dramatic monologues. These are the most powerful
renditions in the collection. Their strength lies in the "I" who speaks in
each poem with introspection and candor. This poet has an uncanny ability
to create a vital, believable, and unique 'second-self ' for each
monologue she pens. The defiant voice that confronts the "pot-valiant
fool" in "A Simple Glass Of Milk "is shrill, determined and tinged with
fear. The lover's voice in "Remembering You" is melancholy as a waning
twilight: "You are quite simply, unattainable love." The disillusioned
dreamer in "The Wooden Gipsy" echoes acceptance and disenchantment: "Your
fantasies are over."
Many of the poems address social and moral issues. The poem "Her Name"
demonstrates how culture and status alter opinion and outlook. When
"Jezebel," "Baggage," and "Oye Babe" convert suddenly to "Mama," meaning
shifts and a poetry of words becomes the poetry of life. "Somewhere In The
Dark" shrieks at the reader of injustice and suffering on so many levels
as, paradoxically, "She screams..." yet her voice never rises above a "A
harsh whisper; a muted chord of agony."
Poems like "Lulu's Dance," "Any Questions?," "Oh, Man Could that Girl
Walk" and "Little Hoppy" give us glimpses into the poet's wry, sly humor
and reveal her ability to see, even in injustice and pathos, muted joy and
hesitant hope.
The poem "Casa Sin Suensos" is a unique creation among unique creations.
So many images converge to produce a sense of both alienation and
reconciliation. The short, concise lines divide easily into four parts,
each part resembling the act of a play. Each act is introduced by a
Spanish phrase. The drama unfolds inside an ugly house without sleep. The
production ends when the macho drunk, the tired mother and the little
brother are encased inside a "Jumping bean kinescope" complete with canned
laughter and commercials.
"Game Called On Account Of Rain" is the only rhyming poem in the
collection. It captures in melodic cadence a grim and gripping story. The
poem ends, the indictment remains, as "The outline of Tito" along with
"chalk and blood become part of the sewer." How awesome is the accidental
power that allows a man to snuff out a life then "Speed to his safety
without looking back."
There is eloquence in the development of this poet's harsh and realistic
subject matter and music in her gritty, sometimes gross, occasionally
lewd, language. That eloquence and that music, along with the poet's
ability to shade meaning with diversified nuances and still maintain her
own distinctive voice, make acceptable to the senses themes that would
otherwise be too harsh and punishing for the human psyche to endure. The
Fragile Thread is a collection of fifty poems that are fluid, flexible,
earthy, enchanting and altogether beautiful.
The Fragile Thread
By Yolanda Gallardo
Word Wrangler Publishing, Inc.
ISBN 1-58630-009-1
HTML: Download, $5; Diskette, $7
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