SONGS FOR SOLO VOICE

A collection of poetry explores matters of the heart.

This brief but weighty volume of poems circles around themes of love, loss, grief, and nostalgia. Whitley begins with “How To Talk Your Way Through Abandonment,” using repetition of the command “Say” to put readers in an introspective trance. In “Piazza San Marco, 1996,” the poet describes a photograph of a couple feeding pigeons in Italy and “the chaos of so many eager wings.” He writes of the irresistible temptation to look back on the past in “Retrospective.” In “Souvenir,” the speaker wonders if he can alter the course of his relationship history after the fact. “Thirteen Ways To Deny an Ending” imagines clever ways to prevent a breakup. The poet contemplates the power (or lack thereof) of talismans in the face of grief in “Here.” He makes a stilted attempt at moving on in “Stop Me If You Think.” In “Contemplative,” he acknowledges the struggle of letting go: “The slipknot that is the heart / doggedly thumps out its plea, / release, release.” A delightful, drunken, and laughter-filled night is the focus of “Reflection of Little to No Consequence.” Throughout, Whitley deftly draws on biblical, mythical, and literary references to flesh out his text. The author is a talented wordsmith. His language is mellifluous, as when he writes of “unstoppable slippage,” “indiscretion’s dusty carcass,” and a “sucrose and cinnamon girl.” He paints vivid scenes with lines like “Overhead, the blasé moon hangs / like a luminous wrecking ball.” Whitley accurately captures the deliciousness of longing; remembering a lover, he admits to “adding salt and lemon to my morning coffee / so as not to lose my taste for you completely.” The collection loses its way when the poet experiments with an aubade, a calendelle, and journal excerpts. But Whitley soon finds his way back to the intimate, tender musings of a heartbroken man: “This is just the music / of never-forgetting-her, / the score of the rest of your life.”

An erudite and sensual meditation on desire and a relationship’s demise.