In the Summer of Bowering, Geist blogger and Poetry Is Dead magazine Editor-in-Chief Daniel Zomparelli will be reviewing George Bowering's latest poetry collection, My Darling Nellie Grey. The collection is divided into twelve chapters, named for each month of the year, and Zomparelli will review one chapter a week all summer long.

First of all, this:

... and ...

... and also ...

These are photos care of Prime Gallery, taken by Sheldon Grimson.

These adorable pictures are fitting for the July chapter titled "Shall I Compare" as Bowering details, in a very visual way, Jean Baird and his love for her. This male-gazing love poem is broken into three worded, three lined, three stanza'd poems. Nothing makes me more happy than constraints of the formulaic kind. The poems move from head to toe of Jean Baird's visual appearance, with Bowering's words kissing each part. The poems leave the reader with a dissection tray of the body, each organ attaching themselves to Bowering's adoration.

The play of language and musicality of this month-long poem is what keeps a smile on the face the whole way through. It obviously plays off of Shakespeare's sonnets, but Bowering always has a way of poking fun at himself in poems where he is being quite literal. And the final lines of the chapter can best prove that:

This male gaze

just an old

guy's lust hooray

I believe these final lines are filed under the category "zing!"

You can follow along with Summer of Bowering by buying My Darling Nellie Grey at Talon Books. If you have a review for this chapter, please post it in the comment section.