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A review of O My Charmer by Katherine Gekker
The
vagaries of
love—romantic,
sexual, or
platonic—are an
eternal theme for poetry,
but Katherine Gekker
manages to bring fresh
observations to the
subject in her second
collection, O My Charmer. By
turns witty and angry,
contented and fearful, the
poems in this book are
compelling as they chart
various phases of a
sometimes turbulent
relationship.
Gekker was born in
Washington, DC, and now
lives in Arlington, VA,
with her wife. She is a
well-known poet in the DC
area, and one hopes that
this book will bring her
an even wider audience.
The title poem illustrates
the turbulent side of the
relationship depicted in
the book.
You sewed my mouth as good as shut.
Defanged & starved me. Milked my venom
sacs dry….
Before you snared me, tortured me,
didn’t you see me extend my full
12 feet beside a pond?...
Your basket can’t contain me.
I uncoil. My hood flares.
You forget I can regrow my fangs, charmer.
(“O My Charmer, Spare Me”)
The opening poem,
“Punctuation:
Missing &
Present,”
brilliantly encapsulates
the highs and lows, joys
and pain of love, using
punctuation as a metaphor
for the joinings and
separations inherent in a
long-term relationship.
I believe
in the Oxford comma,
separating toast, peanut butter, and jelly—
in the semi-colon—that justice of the peace
who married two independent equals (you & me)
in the colon: because it separates items on a list
& hours from minutes from seconds
& you : me….
But fear…
—questions without question marks—
Can I tell you something you may not want to hear
The poem is unfortunately
too long to quote in full,
but it’s a good
example of this
poet’s
wit—humor with a
sharp bite.
This romance began in “Abandon”:
Throughout that long lonely decade, wasn’t I a fraying cord,
shorting out every electric outlet, burn marks charring each wall?
Didn’t I yearn for someone to discover I’m here, here—....
And then, capsizing in the Potomac in that sudden storm,
your hand on my hip, my hands on your breasts, waves cresting us.
Squirrels hurled acorns, percussive, against our attic roof.
Were we always awake?
For a time, didn’t we join them in their wild abandon—
Even here, the ecstasy of new love carries an undercurrent of apprehension.
This poem also provides a
demonstration of
Gekker’s skillful
crafting: the long lines,
cascading indents, and
creative use of
punctuation.
“Safeway Parking Lot
at Night” dramatizes
the ongoing fear of loss
or infidelity when a
relationship is not fully
grounded in trust:
Grocery shopping you said.
But that was 3 hours ago.
Where are you?
Did something happen to you?
Our dog searches the house, limps through the yard. Misses you….
Don’t you remember how we came together—
fusions in a nuclear accelerator.
Now that our old dog sleeps almost all the time.
How could you leave?
Subsequent poems chart the
diminishment and eventual
dissolution. But the book
ends on a note of, if not
happiness, at least some
acceptance, and offers a
prayer to the goddess of
love for relief and
protection from the arrows
of passion.
Indecent, this watchful telescope,
tracking an apparition, a speck’s transit
across the arsonous sun—
Venus, minuscule doyenne….
O celestial Venus, release me.
Free me from my calculations. The spell
of that duenna guarding my heart.
Make yourself my amulet.
These poems were enjoyable to read on first picking up the book. However, as
I read and reread and thought about what to say, I found them deepening and
growing more compelling. They do not give up all their secrets on a first
glance. O My Charmer is one of those rare collections that rewards multiple
readings and deep contemplation.
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