For All These Wretched, Beautiful, & Insignificant Things So Carelessly Destroyed… by Hosho McCreesh

Review by Scot Young

The title says it all: this book is full of beautiful, wretched, and useless things that, like everything, are doomed. It’s about this one simple truth that we all must face: finding joy even as we slowly fade. – Hosho McCreesh

I can’t say it any better than that.  His seventh chap and the latest from sunnyoutside is just the book to read in that quiet spot, shutting out the noise of the world and enjoying a look at life through the eyes of McCreesh.

The book is a brief journey noticing those things we are about to lose or have lost.  The one thing, besides the gentle beauty of the poetry is Hosho McCreesh’s use and love of his titles.  They are stand alone poems in their own right carefully crafted to become part of the story.  Brautigan did this well as did Bukowski.  I have respect for a poet who puts in the time to make the title a significant part of the art.  McCreesh uses this style as he also uses parts of poems as section headings, thus creating a unified piece of art painted with his words.
In the title poem: For All These Wretched, Beautiful, & Insignificant Things So Uselessly & Carelessly Destroyed.  McCreesh talks about the viciousness of the world and how as a society we ignore and how we are not really affected by the horrific but continue on with our mundane life.  He sums it up by—

meanwhile a flock of sparrows
banks hard into a bright headwind;
driven heavenward, they flash into silhouette
across the belly glow hum
of the cold, doomed morning sun—
so much,
simply lost
on
us.

In my search I consistently come across good poetry, sometimes the voice could be anyone’s voice, but I can still find the work as good.  This chap comes across differently like a lover you grow old with, or a best friend that just fits right.  The voice in this book is fresh but one you identify with.  It is like McCreesh says,

a secret truth only our
drunken gods can
know or keep

It is seldom that a book of poetry comes around that can change the way we view the world.  Picking up a copy of this book just might make a difference. The only fault I can find with this book is that there is not enough of it.

For All These Wretched, Beautiful,
& Insignificant Things So Carelessly
Destroyed…  by Hosho McCreesh
Available at sunnyoutside.com
or amazon.com
52 pages, $10.00
ISBN-13: 978-1934513095

About The Author:
Hosho McCreesh hails from the deep, vast gypsum and caliche deserts of New Mexico.  He maintains his sanity by writing poems and prose, and by smearing paint on canvas.  McCreesh has published seven books and chapbooks including 37 Psalms From The Badlands (Kender Steiner Press 2008) and Marching Unabashed Into The Weeping Sun… (Bottle of Smoke Press, 2008) His work has appeared widely in audio, print, and online.