Reviews

In "Peering Around the Corner," Dennis Herrell uses the discipline of meter and verse to achieve a crystal-clear focus on a variety of topics. He writes in accessible language about subjects as disparate as the loss of a son, the creation of a poem, the delights of language, and the incompleteness of life. In a lighter vein, Herrell writes a paean to the joys of eating tapioca pudding, and immortalizes in verse an unwanted encounter with a visiting cockroach.His poetry is to read and enjoy. It will make you laugh sometimes, cry sometimes, but in every case his poems are a pleasure to read.Sims McCutchanRetired District Manager Houston Public Library Peering Around the Corner is the fourth collection of Dennis Herrell's poems I have had the privilege of peering at in pre-publication typescript. In many ways I like it best of all, as it seems that Dennis' poetic touch only improves with age. Familiar themes appear - aging being one of them, along with mortality, the broad sweep of history and evolution, writing (especially poetry), theological questions (often handled whimsically, as in the "Discussion", p. 24, between "Ms. Nature and Mr. God"), and human interactions.It is not surprising to see a Houstonian set two poems ("At the R&L", p. 12, and the eponymous poem on p. 57) on legendary Telephone Road. "CEO" (p. 16) features a Trumpian executive almost having a moment of introspection, but then "I shrug my power shoulders/ and move on to accumulation." The beginning of "Family Tableau" (p. 29) very subtly leads up to the announcement by "our perfect daughter Debbie, / sixteen" of her pregnancy. Whether or not that poem has autobiographical elements, it seems likely that the tragic "Talking with Brian" (p. 55) does. Herrell is justly harsh on people glued to their iPhones in traffic, whether jogger (p. 43) or driver (p. 61). There is a nice surprise in "Hemingway and Faulkner" (p. 38) when the latter turns out to be "our dog Faulkner".Neat turns of phrase (beyond those already quoted) show up with great frequency. A partial list by pages might include: p. 9: "I fish among the eaten" p. 20: "a trust of blue" p. 26: "older seemed to be an ok natural order of life" p. 27: the cockroach "appraising my possessions with open contempt" p. 36: commuting while "standing pressed against garlic" p. 49: "haunted kings speaking iambic lines" p. 54: "bodies making much to-do/ of a long night" p. 56: "tapioca orgasms" p. 65: You didn't really have to come in from play until your mom "said your middle name"Jack Cargill - Published historical author, also poetry book and novel.PhD, Ancient History, Professor of Ancient History, Rutgers University. (retired)