You're The Most Beautiful Think That Happened
Arisa White
Photo credit: Pochino Press |
Arisa White’s book titled, “You’re the Most Beautiful Thing that Happened” is one of the most beautiful works of poetry you’ll hold in your hands and read at any given moment. The reason for what we perceive to be the beauty of her poetry is found in the carefully picked assortment of words used to describe, share and rejoice a myriad of unsettling ideas, memorable portraits, striking scenes, heartbreaking stories and true or simple loves. Arisa White is a lover, a wordsmith, a connoisseur of real life in all its hues and shades, ups and downs, smiles and cries of joy and sadness. She does not promote herself as an authority on matters of perfection in finding love, being in love or holding on to love.
|
But her poetry certainly gives a crispy clear picture of the immensely rich world the author embodies. This in and of itself can and will empower any reader feel more enlightened about life, death, love, heartbreak, beauty, and dismal separation among other essential themes.
In her introduction of the book, Arisa writes, “I wanted the poems in this collection to uncover the unseen, to find and engage a connection that allowed me to make meaning of my own, and to pulse with a rhythm that could more accurately re-sound life, not just identity and its embedded disconnections.”
“Accurately re-sound life, not just identity and its embedded disconnections” is the most perfect way of describing this collection of poetry that will give any reader a number of new perspectives on a number of main definitions and concepts we rely on heavily to make sense of our lives and give value to our allotted time here on earth.
High praise is definitely well deserved for a poet whose voice is as powerful and as honest as that of Arisa White. At the same time, her way of simply “accounting for (her) response, and witnessing—the mundane, the quotidian, violence, social divides, emotions like grief and love—through a queer lens” makes her collection of poetry so much more relatable and valuable to readers from a number of different settings and backgrounds but who are seeking something honest, raw, and powerful.
In her introduction of the book, Arisa writes, “I wanted the poems in this collection to uncover the unseen, to find and engage a connection that allowed me to make meaning of my own, and to pulse with a rhythm that could more accurately re-sound life, not just identity and its embedded disconnections.”
“Accurately re-sound life, not just identity and its embedded disconnections” is the most perfect way of describing this collection of poetry that will give any reader a number of new perspectives on a number of main definitions and concepts we rely on heavily to make sense of our lives and give value to our allotted time here on earth.
High praise is definitely well deserved for a poet whose voice is as powerful and as honest as that of Arisa White. At the same time, her way of simply “accounting for (her) response, and witnessing—the mundane, the quotidian, violence, social divides, emotions like grief and love—through a queer lens” makes her collection of poetry so much more relatable and valuable to readers from a number of different settings and backgrounds but who are seeking something honest, raw, and powerful.
Chance Is Based On True Events
by Arisa White
Walk down the street, everybody
knows your need to touch her.
Smile a smile in a smile,
and feel that kind of marathon.
Swing on that spine
between your birth days
until sleep wants you.
Have the body
with its flames
and charities
and its rooms to cry.
Until the war is out
of its actors and casualties,
be grizzly on the floor.
Look up—
rarely do we look up.
There are kisses and hugs
above us—kisses and hugs.
Swear on old and new
that the wind shakes
the picture admired too long.
Take a chance,
be houndish and address
her in stranger shapes.
Love her to the crunch,
to a barbaric end
with song and spittle,
pinball and bric-a-brac.
knows your need to touch her.
Smile a smile in a smile,
and feel that kind of marathon.
Swing on that spine
between your birth days
until sleep wants you.
Have the body
with its flames
and charities
and its rooms to cry.
Until the war is out
of its actors and casualties,
be grizzly on the floor.
Look up—
rarely do we look up.
There are kisses and hugs
above us—kisses and hugs.
Swear on old and new
that the wind shakes
the picture admired too long.
Take a chance,
be houndish and address
her in stranger shapes.
Love her to the crunch,
to a barbaric end
with song and spittle,
pinball and bric-a-brac.
* * *
We have decided to look at a few examples from a number of poems in Arisa White’s “You’re the Most Beautiful Thing that Happened.” So in her poem titled, Glass, the author succeeds in creating a mini world of things and feelings that will easily leave an impression on any reader. She writes, “Carved Susie in a banana skirt, sea dollar, and winded instruments / collected in my pockets, Bach-dressed monkeys, tagged and used for study, / and the terrible feeling of someone betraying the way I stay preserved.”
A few lines down, in the same poem, Arisa continues with the enriched visual depiction of a landscape that mostly focuses on the mental and spiritual side. The poet declares, “I’m without guilt. No need for truth or dare, dare or truth has no / strings on me—each one of us are souvenir globes, still or disturb, / sand and coladas of a vacation…”
The poem titled, Craves, begins with, “The words might as well be bar coasters, / mess in pockets detergent don’t clean. / I encounter in myself an end.” This finite realization opens a few doors to a number of possibilities and interpretations. But by the end, the tempo changes and the direction where we’re headed is clearly stated, “Me not wanting to give / the hand-me-down way I love / means I apologize.” Read the entire poem from beginning to end, take a break, and read it again to fully grasp the layers of meaning hidden in every verse.
In Pedal, you’ll learn about beauty, determination, and patience among other things. The author writes, “It’s a matter of how/ long I’m willing/ to have my cake/ without taste./ I’m not concerned.”
Take these few examples as enticing treats to make you want for more, to read the entire poem, the complete collection of poetry to truly understand the collective ideas, thoughts, and feelings shared by one of the most talented poet of our time.
Read on and enjoy Arisa White’s “You’re the Most Beautiful Thing that Happened.”
A few lines down, in the same poem, Arisa continues with the enriched visual depiction of a landscape that mostly focuses on the mental and spiritual side. The poet declares, “I’m without guilt. No need for truth or dare, dare or truth has no / strings on me—each one of us are souvenir globes, still or disturb, / sand and coladas of a vacation…”
The poem titled, Craves, begins with, “The words might as well be bar coasters, / mess in pockets detergent don’t clean. / I encounter in myself an end.” This finite realization opens a few doors to a number of possibilities and interpretations. But by the end, the tempo changes and the direction where we’re headed is clearly stated, “Me not wanting to give / the hand-me-down way I love / means I apologize.” Read the entire poem from beginning to end, take a break, and read it again to fully grasp the layers of meaning hidden in every verse.
In Pedal, you’ll learn about beauty, determination, and patience among other things. The author writes, “It’s a matter of how/ long I’m willing/ to have my cake/ without taste./ I’m not concerned.”
Take these few examples as enticing treats to make you want for more, to read the entire poem, the complete collection of poetry to truly understand the collective ideas, thoughts, and feelings shared by one of the most talented poet of our time.
Read on and enjoy Arisa White’s “You’re the Most Beautiful Thing that Happened.”
