By Mary Dezember
A Review from Dr. Dezember’s View
Strong poetry, at its essence, is a musical, soul-event revealing originality and insight.
The musicality of originality can come when the poet dedicates time to crafting.
The musicality of insight can come when the poet allows the poem to lead.
Poet Hiram Larew accomplishes both.
Hiram’s fifth collection, Mud Ajar (Atmosphere Press, 2021), is a stellar achievement in the musicality of originality and insight.
You can discover these poems in any or all of the following four ways, all of which are a delight:
Listen to the audio book recording narrated and produced by T. A. Niles.
Read the poems aloud yourself.
Read the poems silently and allow your eyes to “hear” the music.
Read the poems in the book as you listen to the recording by T. A. Niles.
Narrator & Producer T. A. Niles Highlights the Musicality of Hiram Larew’s Lyrics in the Audio Book Recording of Mud Ajar, Creating A Sublime Experience
I have the book Mud Ajar, and I have the audio book recording narrated by T. A. Niles.
For my introduction to the poems, I debated which of the above four ways I would chose.
It would be my first impression of Hiram’s accomplishment in this book, so should I:
Read them myself—either aloud or silently?
Listen to T. A.’s rendering in voice?
Listen to T. A. while following along with my eyes?
Since Hiram and T. A. will be discussing their collaboration when Hiram shares his poems at Creatives in Conversation on May 4, 2022 (see end of the review), I decided to listen first to the audio book recording by T. A.
Afterwards, I read the book silently.
Even though I can hear the musicality when reading the poems to myself—because Hiram’s skill in creating lyrical poetry is stellar…
…Hearing T. A.’s exquisite nuanced voice, punctuating each word perfectly for full effect, took me as if I were riding a magical, golden, crafted raft floating on a peaceful stream of poetry, every twist and turn navigated sublimely.
Hiram and T. A. shared their thoughts with me on what I call a collaboration to a sublime poetry audio production:
“Collaborating with T. A. has been a gift. The care he takes with the poems, his voice, and his spirit all help to bring the poems to life.”
— Hiram Larew
Mud Ajar, published in 2021 by Atmosphere Press, is Hiram Larew’s fifth poetry collection. Print and audio versions are available at several booksellers. Click below for information:
Mud Ajar — Hiram Larew Poetry
Dedicated to “West Virginia,” the Mud Ajar poems were largely written, as the books webpage states,
“…as outdoor rambles during the 2020-21 pandemic. Others look back over a shoulder at what seems long ago. And some are simply puddles of ponder. But above and beyond all of that, with eyes that love sound and hearts that gleam, Larew's Mud Ajar is an opening that's not meant to end.”
“I haven’t had many highlights over the past year, but working with Hiram to bring Mud Ajar to audio life and our subsequent collaborations have ensured that I have at least one highlight to tuck away for future reflection.
Interacting with Hiram has literally changed my world and I'll always be grateful for that. In decades of collaborative efforts of one sort or another, I have not had as enriching an experience as I have had working with Hiram.
I consider my work on Mud Ajar to be the best I’ve done as a narrator, and that wouldn't be the case without the guidance Hiram provided along the way. Not only is Hiram an exceptional poet, he is also an exceptional human being.”
— T. A. Niles
Mud Ajar as a Joyful Guide to Lyrical Writing
Mud Ajar is so eloquent in its poetic achievements that, in addition reading or listening for the pure pleasure of this collection of poems, we can read or listen to notice important elements of of strong poetry, as a type of guide to lyrical writing.
I will offer the following “strong poetry and lyrical writing” elements as illustrated by Hiram in the following selections of Mud Ajar:
1. Captivating First Line/First Sentence
The stars in your chest --
the sounds of their glow
their flash blink wings
their touch top skies.
—from “Magic,” in Mud Ajar by Hiram Larew, p. 3
Water always dreams remarkably at night —
—from “Flecks,” in Mud Ajar by Hiram Larew, p. 16
I got married to unclear a long while ago
and have been faithful to my muddle ever since.
—“Foam,” in Mud Ajar by Hiram Larew, p. 19
2. Mystery
As they look down into the swaddled bundle
these parents and grandparents
in an old snapshot
seem hushed with time
in glossy and magical ways.
A door looks to be opening behind them
and a trellis up over them
casts shadows
like grins.
—from “Patio,” in Mud Ajar by Hiram Larew, p. 7
3. Original Wording without Being Obscure
such bracken faith --
this candled roam
these light-dimmed rhymes of boyhood
these limbing downs and haystacks brushed
this plunge and smear of dawning yawns
or sunset dreams
the skyward’s blending sounds
and humming slopes up-tugging
and spindle stars or crusted homes
and rounding views of evening
these odes to edge
in clouds’ full-urging scuttle
or dinner lights that ramble
such streakling skies --
all arrows lift their grateful views
sung-up like curves
the call of bogs
where sedge surrounds
where lands fold far beyond
with knowing wings or ways
where land sees just ahead
through each and every
dangle heart
—From “Ode to the Edge,” in Mud Ajar by Hiram Larew, p. 5 & 6
4. Imagery
Love me in the very same way that
the word unbeknownst sounds
in midair
Yes or
just like how spires climb to the very top
—from “Clatter,” in Mud Ajar by Hiram Larew, p. 9
And trees their choir
this opened view
as reaching out
when clouds unbound
—from “Listened Twigs,” in Mud Ajar by Hiram Larew, p. 38
When apples bite back
Or shadows turn off the lights
—from “When More,” in Mud Ajar by Hiram Larew, p. 44
5. Metaphors
Their blaze --
each star that sparks inside your chest
and spins out from there.
—from “Magic,” in Mud Ajar by Hiram Larew, p. 3
6. Synesthesia
The stars in your chest --
the sounds of their glow
—from “Magic,” in Mud Ajar by Hiram Larew, p. 3
as weeds that hum
as poem-cakes --
their candles
—from “Conjure,” in Mud Ajar by Hiram Larew, p. 51
7. Insight and Epiphany
So why bother with such things that should be forgotten?
Why let years ago punch me flat?
Why oh why should these all-of-a-sudden sounds
of a nearly lost song
spook me?
I’ll tell you why --
Because that tune this morning cried out like a ghost
and slipped me right back to when
my heart had just barely started.
—from “Radio,” in Mud Ajar by Hiram Larew, p. 11
By the way
In spite of what you’ve been told
gradual is not always better
or holy.
—from “So What,” in Mud Ajar by Hiram Larew, p. 13
And so when we lean out sills of plenty now
with freshing paint
to look ahead --
How to hear the hungry-haunted clouds
their ghosts in chimes and echoes
—from “An Gorta Mór,” in Mud Ajar by Hiram Larew, p. 15
So anything out loud she says
pay attention to
…
Trust me
Long long ago when things were as simple
as that finger in your ear
She was a goddess
like smoke is in fall
—from “In the Next Room Over,” in Mud Ajar by Hiram Larew, p. 17
But even after all of this
farmers keep farming
for every one of us
They bend the sun
and raise the earth
each day for us
They round each rough
and tamp down these fears
for each of us
Yes after all of this
they’re the hope of life for us
—from “Bread in Hand,” in Mud Ajar by Hiram Larew, p. 24
What holds us close when
nothing’s near
—from “Spoons or Rakes,” in Mud Ajar by Hiram Larew, p. 33
8. Sound Devices: Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance, Rhyme, Rhythm—
and the Poem “Conjure” as Manifesto for the Book:
Pretend that there’s a tune inside this line
Pretend there’s a wide-open humming window right here
or a whistle that’s weaving in and out
of each of these written trees --
those kind of sounds
…
imagine if all of this was whimmed away
as weeds that hum
as poem-cakes --
their candles
—from “Conjure,” in Mud Ajar by Hiram Larew, p. 51
Taking the Journey with Hiram and T.A. Again and Again
My plan is to next read along as I listen to the audio book. Finally, I will read some of the poems aloud to myself.
I invite you to enjoy the poems in any or all of the four ways stated at the beginning of this review to be taken on your own sublime journey in lyrical originality and insight.
Creatives in Conversation featuring Hiram Larew & T. A. Niles
You can speak with Hiram Larew and T. A. Niles at Creatives in Conversation!
Wednesday, May 4, 2022
5:30 PM 6:45 PM
They will share a selection of Hiram’s poems from Mud Ajar
and will discuss
Creative Collaborations: Writing and Recording Poems
Join poet Hiram Larew and narrator & producer T. A. Niles as they discuss how they worked together to produce the audiobook version of Larew's newest collection, Mud Ajar (Atmosphere Press, 2021). Hiram will also read poetry and discuss projects he has founded: Poetry X Hunger and the Voices of Woodlawn poetry collective.
SNEAK PEEK!
Below see a sneak peek of a soon-to-be-released longer video that Hiram and T. A. created, in collaboration with poet and harmonica player, Cliff Bernier.
The clip is of T. A. reading “Boat,” a poem that appeared in Hiram’s first collection, Part Of. Also included is Hiram reading “Unction,” a poem that appears in his fourth collection, Undone.
And a note from Hiram: “The longer video will have poems from all but one of my collections. The theme of the video is my love of poetry. The purpose of the video? It’s designed to bring music and photography to the interpretation of a few, selected poems that I’ve written over the years.”
Sign up at the bottom of this page or any page of my website to attend this FREE event.
If you are already subscribed, you do not need to subscribe again to get the link to this event or any of my free events.
Poet Hiram Larew. Illustration of Hiram Larew by Donna Luhrs. Courtesy of Hiram Larew.
Hiram Larew retired in 2015 as the Director of International Programs within USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture where he guided global farming programs in extension, research and teaching. In his early career, he worked at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as an agricultural and higher education policy specialist.
He holds degrees in horticulture, botany and entomology. And, he serves as a courtesy faculty member at Montana State University, University of Georgia, Baylor University and Oregon State University. As a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow (2019) at Hood College in Maryland, he engaged students, faculty and community member in discussions of food security and poetry.
His fifth collection of poetry was published by Atmosphere Press in 2021.
His Poetry X Hunger initiative, which is bringing poets from around the world to the anti-hunger cause, was showcased during the Pennsylvania State University’s 2021 Global Learning in Agriculture Conference and by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
He founded The Voices of Woodlawn as a way to give voice to the largely erased slavery community at historic plantations.
Find out more about Hiram and his projects on his websites below:
Narrator & Producer T. A. Niles. Photo courtesy Hiram Larew.
You can find out more about T. A. on the website here:
https://my.findawayvoices.com/narrator/taniles
T. A. Niles was a seed planted in the Caribbean soil of Trinidad & Tobago on the cusp of the transformational 60s.
He was watered and fertilized in the gardens of Brooklyn, New York and Hartford, Connecticut throughout most of the bell-bottomed era of the 70s
He was forged in trials by fire in the US Marine Corps in the late 70s thru early 80s
Budded and bloomed in academia in the 80s and 90s, before his withering began at the turn of the 21st century.
Yet, before he falls from the stem, and is ground once more into dust, he hopes to feed a mind or two with morsels of his meanderings.
He comes to us from Mimbres, New Mexico—the latest stop on a life journey dotted with myriad landscapes.
For his recent foray into this community of poetry, T. A. credits the audiobook production of Hiram Larew’s most recent collection, Mud Ajar.
He hopes that his expressions will be balanced between, on the one side, his history, imagination, soaring flights and crash landings, his ambivalent relationship with language- and just about everything else- and, on the other side, your benevolent eyes, welcome-mat of ears, cosmic-sized mind, and authentic responses.
About the Blog Author
Mary Dezember, PhD, seen here rehearsing her poetry, loves the performative aspect of sharing poetry with others and the musicality of lyrical poetry. Mary is a poet, an author of fiction and non-fiction, an educator, arts scholar, arts advocate, and a lover of visual, verbal, musical art, and the beauty of language.
Mary earned her PhD in Comparative Literature, specialization in Comparative Arts, from Indiana University in 2000, with PhD minors in Art History and Performance Studies.
Professor Emeritus of English, she taught Comparative Arts, Art History, Creative Writing and Literature at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech) from August 2000 to May 2021. At New Mexico Tech, she also served as Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Chair of the Department of Communication, Liberal Arts & Social Sciences.
She enjoys performing her poetry and advocating the creativity of others. She is a tour guide for Santa Fe Art Tours.
She is the founder and host of Creatives in Conversation.
Her publications include several non-fiction essays and articles and two books of poetry: Earth-Marked Like You (Sunstone Press) and Still Howling (CreateSpace Independent Publishing), with the title poem being First Place winner of the Best Beat Poem Contest, 2016, sponsored by Beatlick Press. Her novel, Wild Conviction, a winner of the Inkshares 2020 All-Genre Manuscript Contest, is in the works to be published.
Her writing examines the historical basis for contemporary social issues and the internal quest or rite of passage to identity. She aspires to inspire champions to create a new and better day.