Bach and a Catbird by John Fandel

[Donald]

Bach and a Catbird by John Fandel

John Fandel’s collection of poems, Bach and a Catbird published by Roth Publishing
in 1978 contains 50 poems, mostly short poems in formal meter and rhyme, although a few are in free verse. John Fandel is not a household word. In fact, information about him and his poems is meager, despite the fact that his first collection was published in 1947 and he is now 85 and still writing and publishing. The back cover of this collection states, “John Fandel has published many poems (384) in a number of periodicals (90). In addition, he has brought out collections (4), chapbooks (8), privately printed pamphlets (16), and hand-made brochures (24). “ He now probably has double the amount of publications mentioned above. His lack of recognition among the outlets for contemporary poetry is a mystery to me.

The first poem in the collection, “The Aging Astronomer” – which recalls the famous Whitman
poem-has a line that characterizes Fandel’s overall technique: “ He had a windowful of sky..and wonder.” Fandel is a poet of the wonders of the physical world. But he is not a poet of the deep forest, instead the poet of the garden; not the poet of the Windhover, instead the poet of the Cardinal and the Mockingbird; not the poet of the deep sea, but the poet of the Sandpiper along the ocean’s edge. Fandel’s poems have the feel that they were influenced by both Gerard Manly Hopkins and Robert Frost (with maybe a touch of Richard Wilbur and Robert Francis thrown in), and an even more distant influence of Keats and Milton. They are deceptively simple, replete with word play, puns and all the literary devices that makes these poems a joy to read. Fandel's classical education is obvious though subtle.

The selections I admired most in this collection are: “Mostly about Calendulas.” one of his many Ars Poetica poems; “Laws,” “Lilacs,” “Sandpiper,” “Map Reading.” and “Blessing Them,” a poem about the feminine influences in his life.

Because, as mentioned earlier, Fandel’s poems do not show up on a simple Google search – it is actually
easier to locate them at Amazon or Abesbooks than to try to get them from a University or Local library-
I will print out “Laws,” “Lilacs,” and “Mostly about Calendulas” below:


Laws

How the wind shook the FULL STOP sign!
How the Law stood up to it, twinned!

Neither seemed one to resign-
Though it looked pretty good for the wind.

Wind was its own legislature;
FULL STOP shook FULL STOPS like a clan.

But when has the law of nature
ever bowed to the laws of man.





Lilacs

“Supernatural,” Apollinaire
Whispered, having climbed the narrow stair
Into the beehive, to look at Chagalls,
A dreamland of disorder. On the walls,

He did not see “The lovers in the Flowers,”
that vase of lilacs innocently towers,
Supernatural, above the moon
And its reflection, river, boat, bridge, town:

In their sweet lavender the lovers lie
Oblivious to lilacs and the sky
Diminished, as it is to lovers – all
Quite natural supernatural Chagall.


Mostly About Calendulas

You might be looking point-blank at the sun
in a calendula,cool copy.
It studies the sun for days, soaking in it
until drenched to the root,
then wrings itself dry in a fair imitation.
But when has the genuine been less than the genuine.
I loaf beside calendulas, pondering them.
Lolling on earth, memorizing one,
soaking in the sun the same as theirs,
still I can not render back the sun
the way one does.. multiply one
by seven for a fair idea of heaven:
a plant a galaxy of seven suns.
Nevertheless, we share a common art,
taking in to give out,
duplicators, yet prime singulars –
though what we share is more than art,
the sun,
as what we are is more than what we share,
our common ground,
creatures of light
living to give back some of the glory.

[Sarah]

Those are good poems. I especially like "Laws," which has delightful rhyme, although the title "Mostly about Calendulas" let it start out with a few extra points. "Loaf" reminds me of Whitman, and "glory" recalls Wordsworth for me.
Thanks for your review - I also like the title of the collection (Bach and a Catbird).

[Donald]

Addendum: while doing a google search on "poems about calendula" this interesting tidbit came up under a website dedicated to once popular deceased poet, Richard Brautigan:

First published 1968, Please Plant This Book, a collection of eight poems printed on eight seed packets placed in a folder, was Brautigan's fourth collection of poetry; his sixth poetry publication.

[Donald]

Sarah: you may be right about Whitman. Here's Fandel
from a poem called "Quakes":

"I put it down in meter
measured into rime,
But let me tell you,fleeter,
Than Walt's free verse,that time"