Shows promise, inconsistent, but some very fine passages ( )

Curses and Wishes by Carl Adamshick uses an economy of words to address the harrowing moments of life and the happier moments. His images are unique and playful, but his subjects are sometimes dark and eerie, like the barren tree with its barely there spinal column of vertebrae on the cover. From “Even Though” (page 1-3), “I felt the deep bruise of a sentence/and wanted to eat/at the banquet of silence.” Which are the curses and which are the wishes is left up to the reader, but some poems are clearly laments for those dying in the Holocaust (like the poem “The book of Nelly Sachs“) or lost by other means.

Adamshick clings to the moment, a snatch of time and draws out the undercurrent of meaning, creating a story from the unknown. Unlike, Whitman, who used nature in his poems to extrapolate wider philosophical realities of transcendentalism, Adamshick’s poems combine industrial elements from street lights to chessboard pieces and cameras to evoke emotion and recognition in the reader, creating an Aha moment. “The corner utility pole/holds a cone of light/to its mouth// and is screaming/at the pavement.// We are almost here/” (page 38 from “Almost”) However, like Whitman, there is a sense of moving beyond, gaining insight into humanity and stretching ourselves further.

Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2011/07/curses-and-wishes-by-carl-adamshick.html ( )

I recently read two of Adamshick's poems in the Spring 2011 edition of ZYZZYVA, titled, "Everything That Happens Can Be Called Aging" and "Tender". I admit I've never been much into poetry, but these two pieces hit me in quite an emotional way. I'm excited to read this collection.