The Futurist’s Mistress
by Lorraine Schein
Mayapple Press, 2006
Reviewed by Valentina Cano
There are some jeweled moments in this collection of poems. Some sparkles of wit and gorgeous imagery that dazzle the eyes and the mind. There are some lines such as this one: “Time sings to itself and smells of space” from Heracleitus Warp Variants, this one from Dorothy’s Poem: “The long, gray of the rain had fallen” or this one from Wings of Augury: “Fortunes can be read in fallen leaves/ And in the white foam runes of the tide” that wrapped themselves around me when I read them and have not let go since.
The entire poem The Dark of the Matter is spectacular. Even though it is prose, it contains a rhythm that pulses throughout its lines and grants it a secretive beauty. It is my favorite of this particular poetry collection.
Now, it can’t all be good things, can it? There are a few of the poems that rely too much on “big” words. There are too many technical words, in my opinion, which could have been replaced by something else that could communicate more easily what Ms. Schein was trying to say. I found myself lost in them and reaching for my dictionary, which I should not have to do when reading modern poetry.
I cannot be too picky, though, because this collection is astounding and I cannot recommend it highly enough for anyone who wants to step into a mossy lane for a few minutes.