Contemporary Poetry

: a web symposium  |  Spring 2006

North True South Bright by Dan Beachy-Quick
Alice James Books, 2003

Dan Beachy-Quick’s first book of poems North True South Bright involves a wide range of subject matter displayed for the reader in Beachy-Quick’s urgent, feverish language that is all his own. The poems are spoken with a feeling of prayer, and often times entail religious aspects and references. On one hand the poems in North True South Bright are deeply personal yet at the same time remain at a certain distance, and thus create an almost impenetrable maze of language. Through intentional reiteration Beachy-Quick stresses certain topics and through this the reader comes to understand the significance of his work. Some common themes that he touches upon are highlighted through his allusions to past writers of poetry, and generally well-known figures. For example, Beachy-Quick writes poems in response to the ideas of Galileo, a 16 th century colonizer of North America, and even a character from Ovid’s Metamorphosis.

Without even cracking the cover of North True South Bright the reader is impressed upon the image of a compass. Logically, the idea of nature follows the idea of a compass because what else is a compass used for besides plotting a course through nature? Nature is one of Beachy-Quick’s most fundamental topics to which he relates and returns to throughout his book. The first poem, “North/South Composition” is chalk full of references to various animals, trees, water, and other nature images. Furthermore, the speaker uses vividly colorful images, which create a feeling of springtime in a forest. Through different combinations and repetitions of various words and phrases the speaker aligns themselves with nature. The speaker also goes so far as to “curse the lamp” which implies that an electrical instrument contradicts the feelings of the speaker.

Beachy-Quick’s poem “Unworn” is one that clearly exemplifies his ideas and tactics. The poem is written as a paradelle, which is a French form of poetry used first in the eleventh century where four stanzas are composed of six lines each that are repeated in the final couplet of each stanza. The final stanza of the poem incorporates all of the words in the previous three stanzas, but only once each to create entirely new lines. By using this complex repetitive pattern Beachy-Quick thereby achieves forceful results. In “Unworn” as in many of his other poems, Beachy-Quick examines himself through his relationship with others, and with nature. He begins the poem by saying, “Count me among those almonds your eyes” (1). His affection for the other person is prevalent, evidenced by his almost tender description of their eyes as almonds. However, this idea is reversed soon after with the revelation that the object of the speaker’s words never “opened me” (6). This feeling of rejection is further enforced in the second stanza by the use of words such as “shattering disregard” “nervous” and “shard”. Following this reversal the speaker questions even what the other person represents to them, yet seems to see the light at the end of the tunnel, implying that there is hope for this seemingly doomed relationship. The speaker recognizes that this is a fledgling relationship and must be nurtured and tended to with as much care as “a nerve bare-budding” (18). In the final stanza the speaker opens themselves up fully to their partner and admits that through their hardships their relationship is strengthened: “Through what shattering water your eyes opened me with me” (24).

Two of Beachy-Quick’s most fascinating poems are the similar “Hariot’s Round”. Some readers may be confused because there are two poems that share the same title, but are located in different parts of the book. These two poems are written in response to the works of explorer, astronomer, and linguist Thomas Harriot. Harriot was one of the main colonizing factors of North America, and was commissioned by Sir Walter Ralegh under Queen Elizabeth to explore the New World and assess its economic value to England. Harriot’s journals are the basis for the two “Hariot’s Round” poems by Beachy-Quick. To begin the first of the two poems, the speaker mentions towns in England where the temperature is at zero, but this person is not in England, rather this person in on a ship, as evidenced by the second stanza. The speaker is “obedient to Raliegh’s eyes: west-pointing” (18). They further speak about the taught sail and the wind over the water. Following this introduction, the speaker follows Beachy-Quick’s pattern of involving nature through animals and other images. He mentions deer, lions, and bears.

The first of the “Hariot’s Round” poems is the first in the two-part series. Beachy-Quick follows the writings of Thomas Harriot and uses imagery similar to that of Harriot to pay tribute to the narratives. This is a common theme throughout the poems of Dan Beachy-Quick; he frequently alludes to or mimics previous works. In the fourth stanza, the speaker discusses things generally associated with the late 1500’s and early 1600’s in regards to colonization of America such as corn, the Queen, and the Natives. He employs a pun on the word “bow” by using it in the same stanza with different meanings. He writes, “bow before the queen” but also uses it in references to “bow and arrows.” Continuing on into stanza five there is a budding relationship between the natives and the colonizers. Thomas Harriot was a man engrossed with languages and linguistics and thus communication between him and the natives would make sense, and Beachy-Quick uses this fact to foster his own relationship with the reader. Following the narrative style poem we discover that the natives do indeed have a religion, but the speaker explicitly states that it is wrong. He outright declares “G-O-D” (20) yet the natives do not realize what he means. This religious difference would lead to the colonizers believing they were superior and that it was God’s will for them to take land from the natives.

The second of the two “Hariot’s Round” poems follows the same form and is derived from the same text as the first. As well as being derived from the same text, Beachy-Quick employs the same tactical pun but with different words. He writes about how the deer “meet” with the arrows from the natives, resulting with “meat” for them to eat and barter with: “the deer and arrow meet. Meat.” (34). One of the most interesting lines of the poem is when the speaker admits that the colonizers “wound them [natives] from inside” (34). He refers to the diseases that were considered non-lethal and simple by the colonizers but because the natives had no immunity whatsoever from having never been exposed to such diseases they were easily killed in great numbers by the diseases.

Dan Beachy-Quick’s employment of parts of old texts and repeated references to them is a feature which is not necessarily unique to him within the poetry world, but he does it with such distinct style and language that he certainly is distinguished from the field. His succinct language coveys understanding and familiarity with the previous texts which imbues the reader with confidence in Beachy-Quick. Through his interesting approach to poetry Dan Beachy-Quick searches for his own identity through his responses to other peoples’ work.

Further Reading

By Dan Beachy-Quick:

Beachy-Quick, Dan. Spell . Ahsahta Press, 2004.

Beachy-Quick, Dan. "Co-Temporary/ Contemporary on Martin Corless-Smith." Jacket Magazine . 29 Apr. 2006
http://jacketmagazine.com/25/beach-corle.html.

Beachy-Quick. “The Speaking Ear; Radi Os Ronald Johnson.” Boston Review. March/April 2006
http://www. bostonreview.net/BR31.2/beachyquick.html

About Dan Beachy-Quick:

Marvin, Cate. “Review of North True South Bright by Dan Beachy-Quick.” Winter 2003-2004. Ploughshares. 8 May 2006 <http://www.pshares.org/issues/article.cfm?prmArticleID=7794>.

Corey, Joshua. “Ishmael and I: A review.” Winter 2005. GutCult . 8 May 2006 <http://www.gutcult.com/Site/litjourn5/html/JCReview.html>.