What do you think?
Rate this book
Spirit Vessels
I write myself out and start all over again. As a kid, I started writing standard forms: sonnets, blues, ballads and rock & roll stanzas—eventually converting to free verse after reading Whitman & Ginsberg. Later I added surrealist composition, tight objectivist line breaks, projectivist inclusion of history dream and myth to my palette —and incorporating jazz into my poetry both in writing and performance. Paid some dues with 9 months of Thursday night gigs at the Blue Nile with my band, the Frank Zappatistas, free jazz improvisation (special thanks to flutist Janna Saslaw who told me to just relax and have fun.) Reading the full Shakespeare canon taught me something about really creating a presence through poetry. The best compliment I have gotten in a long time came from a spoken word artist who told me, “Your poems are perfect for your voice.” Thanks, man, I’ve been doing it for a long time. 9/26/2017
78 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2018
1 person is currently reading
2 people want to read
About the author
Dennis Formento
7 books2 followersDennis Formento (b. 1954) is the editor of Mesechabe: The Journal of Surregionalism and founder of Surregional Press. He also formed The Frank Zappatistas free-jazz/free-verse band.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 1, 2019
Spirit Vessels: By Dennis Formento: Foothills Publishing, 2018, 78 pages. ISBN: 978-0-921053-27-9.
Spirit Vessels is the first chapbook that I’ve read from Dennis Formento, who lives in Slidell, Louisiana and is active in the local poetry community here. I’ve not met him personally but was interested in reading some of his work since I’ve heard good things about it from other local poets.
Spirit Vessels is Formento’s most recent collection and is a substantial work. The poems are free form and often leap from image to image. Some words that occurred to me frequently as I read through the pieces here were “jazz” and “improvisation.” A few pieces struck me as having surrealistic elements, but many more are what I would call “nature” poems. Local Louisiana elements are common but expand far beyond the usual swamps and gators. And there are plenty of references to natural environments outside of Louisiana. Most of this “nature” material is not pretty nature but reflects the damage done by pollution, coastal erosion, and climate change. These are not, for the most part, happy poems, but they present a realistic, if dramatic, view of the changing world environment.
I don’t want to suggest that such nature poems make up the entirety of the collection. There is plenty of variety here. But it was these pieces, such as “Water,” “Poem: ‘Useless’” and “Bayou Paddle,” that were the most memorable and effective to me.
There are at least two more collections by Formento that I know of, Looking For An Out Place, and Cineplex. I’ve got copies of both of these and since I certainly enjoyed Spirit Vessels very much I’ll be looking forward to reading and reviewing these as well.
Spirit Vessels is the first chapbook that I’ve read from Dennis Formento, who lives in Slidell, Louisiana and is active in the local poetry community here. I’ve not met him personally but was interested in reading some of his work since I’ve heard good things about it from other local poets.
Spirit Vessels is Formento’s most recent collection and is a substantial work. The poems are free form and often leap from image to image. Some words that occurred to me frequently as I read through the pieces here were “jazz” and “improvisation.” A few pieces struck me as having surrealistic elements, but many more are what I would call “nature” poems. Local Louisiana elements are common but expand far beyond the usual swamps and gators. And there are plenty of references to natural environments outside of Louisiana. Most of this “nature” material is not pretty nature but reflects the damage done by pollution, coastal erosion, and climate change. These are not, for the most part, happy poems, but they present a realistic, if dramatic, view of the changing world environment.
I don’t want to suggest that such nature poems make up the entirety of the collection. There is plenty of variety here. But it was these pieces, such as “Water,” “Poem: ‘Useless’” and “Bayou Paddle,” that were the most memorable and effective to me.
There are at least two more collections by Formento that I know of, Looking For An Out Place, and Cineplex. I’ve got copies of both of these and since I certainly enjoyed Spirit Vessels very much I’ll be looking forward to reading and reviewing these as well.
Displaying 1 of 1 review