Everybody's Vaguely Familiar

Jack Powers is attuned to twists of life and language--insults refitted as endearments families defined by their troubles great care taken with modes of recklessness . . . . Near the start of his debut collection hes praising the massive coronary favoring it over the dwindling disease and dementia that took his elders. But as mortality hovers he teases testing wits and teasing out the good stories of lucky close calls game grandmothers swearing babies and a wry mother. . . . Pretty soon hes against the quick demise--and the sky seemed full/ of answers some hurtling/ like arrows into the future. --Amy HolmanIn Amy Holmans words we find the essence of Jack Powers Everybodys Vaguely Familiar. His twists of life and language are like the twists of code in a strand of dna. They replicate as much as is possible both what we have in common and what distinguishes us. Why this collection asks why does everybody seem vaguely familiar? How do we relate to one another as children as adults as elders? Whose perspectives are most convincing--and why? How replicable/reliable are the symbols we use to code Im the coolest or Neither life nor death can frighten me?Powers poems taken together describe a full arc of living. In Carry/Miscarry we grieve the loss of a not-yet being with thin veiny arms and legs and head and in Do Not Resuscitate were reminded that though the elderly score highest on happiness polls it may be just those who can answer the phone. In Praise of Heart Attacks morphs into In Fear of Heart Attacks yes but neither is the final word. Life and language twist into a double helix of questions which Powers persona untangles and tangles again. In Smokin A Real Cool Brank he traces a history with cigarettes from age 10 to age 29 balancing the pleasures and perils of tobacco; in The God of Stupidity we vicariously experience the crazy freedom of teenaged joyrides--though this poem and others also hint at something potentially destructive in that freedom.About a quarter of the poems deal with elderly dementia though usually with a generous dose of affectionate and respectful whimsy. Take these lines from He Couldnt Remember. He Couldnt Remember/ why he got up why hed come upstairs/ . . . But then it never mattered/ what hed been looking for anyway / its what hed found. Like this paisley-moted/ shaft of afternoon light bending/ through the dusty panes; a yellow spotlight/ like one from that thirties painter famous/ for lonely men in a night-lit diner.Everybodys Vaguely Familiar is ultimately a joyous collection. Jack Powers voice is fully human.