Jim Harrison

First and foremost, it is nice to be back…back to a place that I can attempt to grasp and understand. Where the water is merely acting as water on one level, or a tear being shed from a child’s eye on another. Or a key ring hanging from a belt loop is just that, yet it can also represent the circle or bond of life. There is no need to romanticize ideas when the reality of the matter is that he will probably not be taking his grandchildren to Disneyland in a camper and that is the beauty of the situation.
Jim Harrison is refreshing. Who can’t appreciate a man that gives personal advice throughout his poetry. “Dance with yourself with all your heart and soul, and occasionally others, but don’t eat all the berries birds eat or you’ll die.” This to me seems like words to live by. And better yet, “kiss yourself in the mirror but don’t fall in love with photos of ladies in magazines.” Harrison continues this matter-of-fact tone throughout. His choice of words conveys the tone that everything he says we already know and he is just simply reminding us to take the time to notice.
Harrison speaks of love from experience, loss from tragedy, experience through travels, and children through questioning; incorporating these ideas into the very heart of his poetry.
The dead are not meant to go,
but to trail off so that one can
see them on a distant hillock,
across the river, in dreams
from which one awakens nearly healed:
don’t worry, it’s fine to be dead,
they say; we were a little early
but could not help ourselves.
Everyone dies as the child they were,
(Sullivan Poem)
Although, at times I am perplexed by his ideas I can honestly say his poetry is beautiful, inviting, and inspirational.
Jim Harrison’s poetry is stimulating, provocative, and unfailingly interesting to read. Throughout, he shows himself to be wonderfully imaginative. Through a deep engagement with language and meaning he takes each poem in many different directions. He writes in a multitude of poetic forms and techniques that leave the reader engaged and questioning his approach. For instance, the varying lengths causes me to question the importance of individual poems and why he choose to expand a poem over thirty pages in comparison to his five line Kobun. I appreciate how some of his poems follow the conventions of prose narratives.
One poem that completely puzzles me is “New Love”. I really like this poem although I question how much I truly understand. First, it is interesting to note the body parts that Harrison takes the time to list. On first glance it appears to me that all of these parts are extremely bony and the least “loved” or mentioned parts. Then he throws in the idea of risqué photos of the tender inside of the elbow. The language is lovely but what is he trying to do? What is he suggesting when he talks about relearning the future “as we learned to walk, as a baby grabs its toes, tilts backward, rocking”? And how exactly do we get to the moon after we have dealt with all of this death? Maybe I have too many questions to bring this poem up, but I really like it.
Did I mention that I understand what is going on? Can I take that statement back and rephrase it as such…I understand words and phrases, but not necessarily the entire poem. I appreciate Harrison’s style and use of imagery that never fails to amaze me. Any individual that can invoke the image of a dripping faucet intertwined with the sigh of a cat and cells that are deprived of oxygen is worth reading again. Wouldn’t you say?