To call Spiel's writing, to say that church floor is raw and energized, is almost a misnomer. His work is hyper-charged, electric, goes so far into the depths of pain, both psychic and physical, that it is miraculous that he gets out alive.  Anyone who dares enter the deep, spiraling labyrinth of his world, will not come away unscathed.  Witness the following description of the maternal instinct as he has lived it, "she swears/pragmatic bonds/time ground to prism's pulp/torture's wanton bearer/flagellates her mythic chains/unconscionable warden/ grinds inequities/ to innocence---" (from time ground III)

Reviewed by Alan Catlin

It's hard to know from Winnipeg whether Alan knows Speil or not, but Alan does know good poetry.

Chiron Review Press, 522 E. South Ave., St Johns, KS 67576-2212, unpaged, $5-available from This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ISBN-944795-66-4

To call Spiel's writing, to say that church floor is raw and energized, is almost a misnomer. His work is hyper-charged, electric, goes so far into the depths of pain, both psychic and physical, that it is miraculous that he gets out alive.  Anyone who dares enter the deep, spiraling labyrinth of his world, will not come away unscathed.  Witness the following description of the maternal instinct as he has lived it, "she swears/pragmatic bonds/time ground to prism's pulp/torture's wanton bearer/flagellates her mythic chains/unconscionable warden/ grinds inequities/ to innocence---" (from time ground III)

This is a poetry of the depths and it is made to be read slowly, repeatedly, carefully to savor the instinctual rhythm, the throb of the words, as they are repeated and refined. This is recapitulation as a knife to the heart, "resounding void of resonance/ no kindred kind/to salve/this skittish anonymity/no ricochet/or mirror's fog" (from twilight's lost day V) this is a symphony of pain in many movements, a programmatic work, a kind of Richard Strauss's "Death and Transfiguration" in poetry.

Church floor is the journal of a survivor of the psychic wars, of a personality divided, of a body in the severest kind of constant pain. Experience and understanding are not a release from internal tortures, nothing in this life could remove those.  Still the poet presses on, knowing the journey will be one through absolute darkness. He knows that finding light will not bring an end to suffering, "cranial treasure/cranial burden/vulnerable/to shut out/splayed consequences/disheartening rumors/self's light/locks its know/to chasms/unknown" (from frightened light V). The poet may be disheartened but he presses on because that is what poets and artists do.  

It would be unfair to discuss this unique book without a word or two on the design.  Pages are figuratively drawn and quartered, fractured or ripped apart as a counterpoint to the text of the poem.  It is as if the pages were created to expose the rift in the author's mind, the multi-layers of perception at work here; they are not so much a visual delight as a vivid accompaniment to the words they contain.  At five dollars a copy, this dense collection has to rate among the best chapbook buys of the year.

Last update : 27-03-2007 19:30

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