Loading...
 
Timothy Daum's review of 'Loading Mercury with a Pitchfork'
Print
English
Flash player not available.


Click on the covers for more information on the different editions, including their availability.
If you cannot view the image, download the most recent version of Flash Player(external link)

Review of Loading Mercury with a Pitchfork

by Timothy Daum

Brautigan's poetic style, previously centered around eclectic insights into how everyday events are transformed into art, is here reduced to quick simulacra of bitter thoughts and cynical visions - his verse abounds with misplaced love, lonely nights and jealous stabs at previous lovers. Commonplace images are mutated into uneasy jokes: "They said that / my telephone / would be fixed / by 6. / They guaranteed / it." Even the lighter poems, such as "Information" or "We meet, We try. Nothing happens, but." are deeply trained by Brautigan's ego, and very few express and evoke the silent delight that has marked his recent novels. Desperation is a constant theme, as in "War Horse": "He has been made invisible / by his own wounds. / I know how he feels." Where is the real Richard Brautigan: in his novels or in his poems? Either way, his readers will ask for these poems, and few poetry collections can afford to be without this work.


Library Journal
September 1, 1976



Copyright note: My purpose in putting this material on the web is to provide Brautigan scholars and fans with ideas for further research into Richard Brautigan's work. It is used here in accordance with fair use guidelines. No attempt is made regarding commercial duplication and/or dissemination. If you are the author of this article or hold the copyright and would like me to remove your article from the Brautigan Archives, please contact me at birgit at cybernetic-meadows.net.