Simon Pettet's Hearth

One of my favorite reads for 2009 so far has been Simon Pettet’s Hearth (Talisman House, 2008). What a pleasure to finally have a solid collection that represents something close to a Collected Poems! Pettet is a careful, meticulous poet, wistful and wise — someone who knows that a word well-placed can be worth a thousand pictures. A democratic poet too in that all, high or low culture, is grist to his mill — you can meet a Bloomingdale pullover right after an encounter with Li Po, Lorca hangs with Cro Magnon man, Pliny with a frog (well, not on the same page & not in the same poem, but in the same book), and Rabindranagh Tagore is separated by one one word (“like”) from Shirley MacLaine, while a bird turns out to be a frog (unbeknownst by the author). As Tom Raworth says on the back-cover: “‘Heart’ and ‘Earth,’ the obvious scenery as Simon’s I-liner trips us through the decades, sometimes blind-embossing a snapshot, sometimes looking at himself observing it, sometimes spattering it with apposite allusion. Take the ride and enjoy the scene.” Here’s a little poetics gem:

MY METHODOLOGY

I accrue hordes

and then

winnow away,

It is a thankless task,

tho’ not without

occult comfort.

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