Intrinsic Night: poetry collection combines science with folklore

By: Stefanie Maclin

Posted: 10/22/09

The new poetry collection, Intrinsic Night, by Joshua Gage and J.E. Stanley, is a commentary on its format. With each poem written as a cinquain, a highly stylized form of poetry similar to a haiku.

The first line has two syllables, the second four, the third six, the fourth eight, while the fifth circles around again to two. And mimicking the circular style of the cinquain, every poem extends from the poem before it, thus creating a full and unified story.

Even the title of the collection itself comments on the story it unfolds. Intrinsic Night is a play on the words "intrinsic light"---random gray lights one might see in total darkness, which results from random retinal events reflected by the optic nerve. The poems also are much like "random retinal events:" balanced, surprising, and delightful.

Part science, part science-fiction, heavy on the folklore, the unexpected, and the odd shapes, findings, and beauty of everyday life, Intrinsic Night fits into no clear genre. But it also doesn't need to. Its unexpectedness defines the collection's true character.

The poems build into climax and end. Poems such as "B'Alam," "Amphisbaena," and "Vertigo," present the image of a beast in the shadows. By the second, the beast has seen us, and is not only out of shadows, but stalking us as his prey.

Finally, in "Vertigo," we're up against a cliff, and must decide whether we jump or face the beast. Either way, perhaps, we're doomed, as we have not yet sprouted wings.

Divided into six chapters, or themes, with titles such as "Foreign Shores," "Songs From the Witch's Garden," "Memento Mori," "The Waters of Eden," "Interludes and Reflections," and "Nocturnes," each poem within the section reflects on its title.

The folkloric elements are heavier in "The Witch's Garden," while "The Waters of Eden" is folkloric, but in a different way. The former takes from fantasy and fairy tales, the latter takes from religious text.

Religion is a strong theme throughout the collection. It is in this section in which I find my favorite set of poems, a series entitled "Becoming Adam:"

"Our lips//weave masks, each one//pulled over creation//like a veil, keeping this bride's face//from us."

It provokes many variations of interpretation. This entire section reads like a retelling of the age-old myth, with the inclusion of poems such as "Enigma of the Absolute," "Lillith," and "Becoming Light."

With their reinvention of folk tales and myths, Gage and Stanley manage to give these stories a new twist, and render it almost creepy. In the tale, I felt pity for Lillith, and I sympathized for the angels who fell with Adam and Eve.

The other sections further play on this storytelling. "Foreign Shores" tell of shores afar, but not just space or science or fantasy, but from more obscure and yet familiar places like Kerouac's highways and Poe's basement.

"Interludes" and "Reflections" reflect the mundane, with titles like "View from Alcatraz", "Retina, Detaching," and "Summer Party Sounds" satirizing the banality of life. Yet, also in this section, you're just as likely to find an opinion on a Jackson Pollock painting as you are to find a note on translation.

"Nocturnes" speak of the between places; the between hours and behind the scenes. Reading this section, I felt like a trespasser, unwanted and unwelcome. Again, it was unnerving without being terrifying. I could still feel the chills over my skin.

Finally, "Memento Mori" is reflective. Here, the reflection is more intangible and abstract, like time, death, and loss. Also, the poems allude to paintings, but with a certain detachment.

Delightfully disturbing, surprising at every word, yet, wonderfully balanced and harmonized in measure, pace, and inspiration. Intrinsic Night is well worth the read.

Intrinsic Night is currently available in PDF format only. It is released under the independent publisher Sam's Dot Publishing.