Sea Salt: Poems of a Decade, 2004-2014

Mason's New Collection a Winner

The long-awaited new collection of poems by David Mason (Sea Salt by Red Hen) has finally arrived and I am excited. The book was barely out of its wrappings and I was IN it with my pencil making notes, looking at what Mason does that is so wonderful. I used to hold myself back from writing in other people's books, but I must do it to remind myself of how great poems are made. As a New Expansionist poet, David Mason has the skills to underpin every poem with subtlety of meter, rhyme, and diction that makes them memorable. His use of rhyme and meter (largely iambic) is adept to say the least. Looking at his masterful sonnet, Another Thing, one may at first think this a free-verse poem because the poem does not scream !SONNET! but rather lets the reader slide into the form on the back of the diction and subtle rhythms. There is not an ounce of contrivance there. Line breaks and off-rhyme make the sonnet's frame seem invisible except to the highly trained reader. No matter. If a good poem is what you crave, consume this one and don't worry about analyzing the structure. I am drawn to the diction of poems such as The Man Who Lied. "scab man, scar man" and "giver, taker, crazy friend" set the poem in the reality of humankind, and do so in a fresh way that makes this poem memorable, if brief. Of course there are the ever-present rhythms that make the poem move smooth and slick in the head. No "touch and run" this poem sticks. It is but one example of many where the diction carries the narrative to new heights of understanding. "4 July 11" is another such poem. The narrative may seem simple enough until the reader realizes that the diction is making a double picture, one of celebration and one of fist-raising: "chrysanthemums of fire blossom" and "another birthday, but the heart is flat champagne" are but two examples of what the diction does to create dichotomy in this fine poem. And Mason uses diction skill to let us know something new about love: In the poem, "Night a...