Review: Notes on the Poet: A Little Book of Criticism by John Poch

I’ve only owned this book for a month and yet it is dogeared, coffee stained. Pages are bent and there is much underlining, bold stars and other general marginalia. It has been slid into my pocket and purse, and clutched in my hand as I waited for appointments to begin. This book is a companion, not merely something to read.

John Poch’s Notes on the Poet: A Little Book of Criticism is an opening into the art of aphorism, windows into truth.  It is described as “prayer ribbons” or “compressed utterances tied to that space between reading and writing, poet and poem, life and art.” This brief book is meant to be savored.  Do not stuff yourself on its morsels but let yourself taste them one by one.

A reader does not have to be a poet to appreciate the guidance of these aphorism such as,

“People are living poems, written by God. Lyrical epics.”

or

“Pinch this peel and smear the essence across your skin. Stay hungry.”

or

“Know the difference between perfume and cologne.”

Some of the threads in this criticism sting; you notice your own self, your sins and simple laziness and yet others gently call you back to goodness, to learn how to be who you were created to be.