NEIL
LEADBEATER Reviews
If They Hadn’t Worn White Hoods, 8 Million Would Have Shown Up in the Photographs by John Bloomberg-Rissman and Eileen R. Tabios
(Locofo
Chaps, Chicago, 2017)
This politically charged chapbook is a good fit for
Locofo Chaps (an imprint of Moria Books) which is dedicated to publishing
politically-oriented poetry.
The
cover image “Soft Bricks” (2013), digital print on fabric by Janna Añonuevo Langholz
is, in relation to the content, loaded with several layers of interpretation.
For me it conjures up a word like “brickbat” (a critical remark) or phrases
such as “to drop a brick” (to say or do something tactless or indiscreet) and
“to make bricks without straw” (to make something that will not last), but
these are also soft bricks, made for a child.
This
satirical take on President Donald Trump comprises a single prose poem which is
set out in a number of (not very) presidential statements that, with very few
exceptions, begin in the egotistical first person singular. There is then a
pause, a space in which there has to be an initial to make the statement
authentic. It is telling that none of the spaces are actually initialed /
authenticated by anyone at all. After that, there is the word “regret”. This hints at the fact that words spoken in
haste are frequently regretted later on.
The
title of the chapbook is derived from the following statement that is
positioned near to the end of the sequence:
"I, ____________ (please initial)
regret that eight million of the people who attended my inauguration were
dressed in their white hoods. That’s why they didn’t show up in the
photographs."
The
art on the back cover image—a “Sansovino-style frame” (mid 16th
century), Florence, from the Robert Lehman Collection, 1975, Metropolitan
Museum of Art lends extra emphasis to this statement because it does not frame
a picture, it is just the frame. We are looking at a blank, white space, at
something that has been “framed.”
The
statements are humorous because humor can be such a powerful vehicle for
conveying otherwise unpalatable truths:
"I, ____________ (please initial),
regret poetry. Poets see (through) me. Note to Self: Count how many poets vote.
And where they vote."
Note
the attention to detail, how “Self” is written with a capital “S”.
There
is more humor where the President interacts with the poet directly:
"I, ___________ (please initial),
regret that John Bloomberg-Rissman added 'only' in between 'the' and 'beauty' to my statement, 'The beauty of me is that I’m very rich.'”
Climate
change, immigration, “fake news,” the media and the big business of the
corporate world are just some of the topics satirized in this poem. At one point, there is an illustration of an
elephant superimposed over a graph revealing changes in real income whose curve
happens to coincide with that of the shape of the elephant. This maybe is the
elephant in the room that everyone is aware of but chooses to ignore.
The
statements are populated with reference to government officials, political
consultants, media executives, brand ambassadors and others who have been, or
are, very much in the media spotlight of the Trump Administration.
There
is a satirical twist in the last of the “I….regret” sequences which runs as
follows:
"I, __________ (please initial),
regret….what? OK. Let’s get serious. I am perfect. I have no regrets."
A
helpful and informative section at the back of the book details the sources
that were used. They include newspaper articles from The Guardian, The Huffington Post and The New York Times; Facebook posts, Twitter feeds and other forms
of social media; historical works; literary extracts; and lines from popular
music.
I
have a feeling that our great English satirists, Pope and Dryden, would have
really enjoyed reading this collection if they had been alive today.
Such is the smallness of the present moment, the “era
of 45,” compared to the greatness of the past. Where indeed are the snows of
yesteryear?
*****
Neil
Leadbeater is an author, essayist,
poet and critic living in Edinburgh, Scotland. His short stories, articles and
poems have been published widely in anthologies and journals both at home and
abroad. His books include Librettos for
the Black Madonna (White Adder Press, 2011); The Worcester Fragments (Original Plus, 2013); The Loveliest Vein of Our Lives (Poetry Space, 2014) and Finding the River Horse (Littoral Press,
2017).
