Frank’s Wing: Poems

by Jacob McArthur Mooney

“… my relationship with most art living or lost / is the same as yours: we will pass it by” bemoans the last poem in Jacob McArthur Mooney’s latest collection. Written as a sequence of “ghost ekphrastics” (poems inspired by works of art that neither the poet nor any living person has ever seen), Frank’s Wing constructs a whole world of lost or destroyed artifacts that have been rearticulated and resurrected, brought back to life by a fictional property baron as a dying gift to Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario.

From “decadent” modern paintings torched by Nazis, to lost films, to never-performed performance art, the abiding premise of the book is that art invites mourning: not because it is mournful, but because it is vast. It taunts the plans of mortals while “a week / of kids’ videos and lip syncs /siphon through the internet each second.” Bordering ideas about FOMO and mortality are considerations of destruction itself, as the book recalls loss events predicted by both the considered works’ historical contexts and the frailties of their makers. Concerned with consuming art as much as with making it, Frank’s Wing examines the positions made available to the art-consumer: owner, overhearer, interrogator, and potentially, both destroyer and the thing that art destroys.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

Published April 11, 2023

About the author

JACOB McARTHUR MOONEY's debut book of poetry was the much acclaimed The New Layman's Almanac. His work has also received the Banff Centre Bliss Carman Poetry Award. A respected poetry commentator and critic, Mooney writes the popular Vox Populism blog, and was a panelist for the National Post's Canada Also Reads competition. A Nova Scotian now living in Toronto, he is a recent graduate of the MFA in Creative Writing programme at the University of Guelph-Humber.His second collection was published in 2011 and is called Folk.

Reviews

[Rebecca Rosenblum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had an English teacher in about grade 10 who drew this diagram of kinds of understanding of literary texts--there were five, I think--and she said the best texts have something to offer a reader on every level, so even if you some miss some or get them wrong, you can still have a great experience of the text with whatever you do pick up. I feel like Frank's Wing is like that--I am pretty sure I missed a lot of the references and allusions, even though I also caught a lot. But there's a really magical world-building aspect to the project and a lot of beauty and elegance on the line level. It's also pretty funny in a lot of places. There's a lot to like in this book wherever you meet it.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this indie CanLit poetry book FRANK’S WING by Jacob McArthur Mooney. I love reading poetry in between other books and I really like how this cover relates to the contents. In Frank’s Wing my fave poem is Stands For which works through the alphabet. Also I love that this book was printed at the Coach House!

Thank you to ECW Press for my gifted review copy!

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh nice, I’m pleased to be the first to review this book. I’m a huge fan of originality. So then…

And now for something completely different…
But first, are you familiar with the words ekphrastic? I wasn’t. It’s Greek. Originally meant to mean describing something in great vivid detail, but lately turning into describing works of art. Ta-da, now you know.
So then ekphrastic poetry is poetry about art. But this volume features only art unseen and imagined. Which conceptually I love.
Stylistically, well, it’s modern poetry, it inevitably leaves something to be desired for a classicist. But for modern poetry, it’s quite good, and it nice to see that it serves an elevated and original purpose as opposed to navel-gazing overshares that most poets seem to go for these days.
All in all, a very interesting read. Thanks Netgalley.

[Sabrina A · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really excited to read some ekphrastic poetry after studying it in my poetry class but this collection missed the mark for me. Perhaps it's because it describes works of art that don't exist or maybe it was just the somber tone of the whole book, but I didn't enjoy this at all. It also felt weird to make up a historical figure and rename parts of Toronto, especially when it could have been really cool to go into the actual history of parts of the city (but I'm also just a sucker for any Toronto/Canadian content). The author's voice is very strong in these works, which I can't tell whether I liked or not.

TLDR: missed the mark for me, none of the poems really grabbed my imagination.

[Jeannine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This reminded me of more traditional or classic poetry. It was enjoyable to read. I love poetry and this book was different than what I usually read but still enjoyable

[Paul Vermeersch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jacob McMiddlebrow Mooney is a marvellous poet. No one can conjure such complex worlds and layered relationships in so few words. This book is astonishing. Read it.