tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3085594836603121531.post2169612262977339240..comments2023-10-26T08:08:48.048-07:00Comments on RASPUTIN: A Poetry Thread: Leonard Gontarek Withstands Her Labyrinth, A Yard-Sale Military Lapel Medal, The Philosophy of Muggings, And A Lost ScarfRASPUTIN: A Poetry Threadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11151570427784955748noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3085594836603121531.post-28340993045079006992018-06-04T15:57:02.826-07:002018-06-04T15:57:02.826-07:00The mystery and the everyday live side by side in ...The mystery and the everyday live side by side in Leonard's poems, and create an atmosphere at once cynical and passionately devoted to the spiritual. How is that possible? "What she/ knows the trees know and there is/ not an ounce of God in it." Leonard's wide understanding allows for his own image of the holy, one suited to the world of now: "This is difficult to accept/and she must keep it to herself." We bear it for each other, and Leonard names "the stinging wind" and her "morning of loneliness" with tenderness. One astonishing moment in a series of them in these poems. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3085594836603121531.post-68967817870227672312018-05-21T11:09:19.544-07:002018-05-21T11:09:19.544-07:00As with most of Leonard Gontarek's pooems, I f...As with most of Leonard Gontarek's pooems, I find myself savoring lines, just repeating them to myself. "There is a seocnd summer in the middle of fall;""Can we only replace one villanous leader with another villanous leader?""I wept about something I read/in a newspaper." There are also the images that stay with me: "Panel c" in "Battel for the Soul of the Country," of the stained glass panels, removed when the storm comes, stored in a basement, and then returned, but not the same; and the singing language in "panel d; "the scarf in "Dream 1" of "Federal Land Grab." Finally, the humor: "Fuck him, I'm tired of getting/him out;"the diner scene in "panel b" of "Battle for the soul of the Country"Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03250606097965420395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3085594836603121531.post-68477456458275719152018-05-21T11:07:43.456-07:002018-05-21T11:07:43.456-07:00As with most of Leonard Gontarek's pooems, I f...As with most of Leonard Gontarek's pooems, I find myself savoring lines, just repeating them to myself. "There is a seocnd summer in the middle of fall;""Can we only replace one villanous leader with another villanous leader?""I wept about something I read/in a newspaper." There are also the images that stay with me: "Panel c" in "Battel for the Soul of the Country," of the stained glass panels, removed when the storm comes, stored in a basement, and then returned, but not the same; and the singing language in "panel d; "the scarf in "Dream 1" of "Federal Land Grab." Finally, the humor: "Fuck him, I'm tired of getting/him out;"the diner scene in "panel b" of "Battle for the soul of the Country"Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03250606097965420395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3085594836603121531.post-2157909199207045112018-04-20T11:56:40.709-07:002018-04-20T11:56:40.709-07:00Gontarek’s stunning images deeply inscribed by him...Gontarek’s stunning images deeply inscribed by him with specific and wide meanings sear very deeply into me as reader.<br /><br />The structure of each of these poems guides marvelously in perceiving the whole. <br /><br />I’m wow-ed! I keep wanting to read again and more. Thank you.Betti Kahnhttp://bekahn.comnoreply@blogger.com