Ranging from quick-fire questions for us to ponder to provocative longer works drawing on classical themes, this highly entertaining collection will surprise and inspire with its wit and honesty.
Lean, yet vivid, Jeremy Robertβs style can be sensuous, graphic or outspoken.Β He weaves in and out around Pop Culture icons such as James Dean & Andy Warhol, as well as making irreverent commentaries on Kiwi culture.
FromΒ βseeking answersβΒ in Aucklandβs Western park to hanging out with crazies at LAβs Venice Beach, Roberts articulates with truth and honesty during his journey of discovery.
Roberts does more than put his cards on the tableΒ βΒ he lines up his targets and then hammers the poetic nails in.
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Cards on the Table is Jeremy Robertsβ first collection of poetry. His book is packed with poetry that is outspoken, often pugnacious, clearly it is meant to be performed β and he is described, on the back cover, as a performance poet. This poet looks at the world irreverently, expressing strong opinions on subjects such as materialism and terrorism, thus it comes as a surprise in what seems at first to be a strident book when he is also tender, and sometimes profound, about the everyday.
In βMoney $hotβ we read: βthe celebration of the buck / is alive everywhere -// in the penthouses & caves,/ school & work/ fucking,/ & in the bugle call of every country.// money -/ is a soul-balm which kicks religionβs ass/ right out of the spiritual park!β In βWhite napkinsβ he writes cynically about: βwhat life is now β waiting for texts & drinking/ expensive coffeeβ¦β
Contrast the above with excerpts from βWaiting to see Iggy & the Stoogesβ: βthree young women// β¦ in summer dresses & sandals/ were dancing in a field// β¦in licking, light blue/ rainβ¦ & though so many things/ lay waiting on the path ahead -/ so many/ many things// it seemed nothing was hiding from them/ that afternoon.β And βThe Missing Childβ: βa fatherβs lesson.// I think it worked like this:// I gave you my version of the world -/ which you slowly no longer neededβ¦// which is how it should be.// you grew into yourselfβ. There is gentleness, no pugnacity, in these words.
Titles such as βBomb the Poetry Factoriesβ, βSurf Nazisβ, βCyanide Loveβ and βGreen Bluezβ might give the book a distinctive rock flavour but there is such a mixture of material that it cannot be branded as such. It is a huge feast of poetry, a smorgasbord, a varied selection to choose from which does include the music scene. We get a look at all aspects of life through the eyes of an observant performance poet and musician.
Roberts is also well-travelled and presents to his readers a particular, clear picture, giving a very good sense of place. In βIrish Bar in Takapunaβ we can almost smell the Guinness whilst: βhere/ the bow sweeps across the fiddle/ & an accordion squeezes/ out the tears β β.
βKemang Raya Walkβ places us firmly in Indonesia, walking through streets, with flashed details in list form: ββ¦steaming blue smoke -/ flower stalls, motorbike babies, rotting rubbish,/ orange & black bajajs, oversize Stupid Ugly Vehicles/ & 3rd dead rat of week β nicely squashed: guts squeezed out -/ like the poor here in Indonesiaβ¦ β¦crumbled footpath, perfumed dust, street-food &/ carbonated petrol clouds -β. We feel empathy alongside the poet in this poem.
βLost & Free on a Street in Jakartaβ lists again: βzigzagging in rain β among strange rubbish, dirt,/ busted concrete, & revving monster motorcycle-mash of/ commutersβ¦β and brings us to a gentle conclusion with: βnew doorways/ tickets to shadow plays/ calls to prayer.β
Cards on the Table is not short on humour. βPush Itβ is one example: βI invented a game called/ βThink Up a Punk Band Nameβ.// I came up with The Rotting Nuns-/ disgusting everyone/β¦whichβ¦ ended the game.β Another is a one-line poem, βPhilosophyβ which asks: βshall we seek Satanβs help when the aliens come?β
Despite the grim subject, and title, βWhat IXTAB β the Mayan Goddess of Suicide β Whispered to Meβ, Roberts presents to his readers, in prose form, a very funny selection if you have, in fact, βhad enough of lifeβs windmill of flying fistsβ.
This is a densely filled book of over one hundred poems; such a collection in one volume is a credit to the poetβs hard work. Here we have many styles, attitudes and emotions β thereβs much going on, a lot being expressed, a great deal to notice β and some grouping of poems or section divisions might have been of assistance to the reader. Attempting to read Cards on the Table in one sitting cannot be recommended; it becomes an ambush. Editors and publishers do well to note this and to remember that the reader likes space and a sturdy cover for work that benefits from being picked up and dipped into.
β Elizabeth Coleman, Takahe magazine (New Zealand)
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Jeremy Robertsβ poems are prisms refracting spectrums of colour, deep, surprising truths, from the clear light of their subjects. Beautifully formed and musically pitch-perfect, they transport us to landscapes as diverse as Aotearoa, Vietnam and Paris, illuminating the complexities of human interactions, the three-dimensional depth of poetry, and the profundity of famous and infamous performers along the way. To read Cards on the Table is to be reminded of how deep, how life-affirming veracity is manifest in the significant and everyday alike.
β Siobhan Harvey
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Jeremy Roberts is a performance poet, a quick-change artist with words, a confessionalist never afraid to let it be personal, a guy who grabs the present moment and makes it sing. In the words of one of his best, heβs βpermanently temporaryβ. He knows βthe Zen of the immediate momentβ. Are you tempted to think heβs just a freak and a latter-day Beat? Wrong! The surface is the surface, cosmopolitan, infused with Asian experience and Rimbaud and American pop culture and echoes of mean urban streets. But scratch in these free-form effusions and you find a strong and fine outrage, a protest against a world in which βthe celebration of the buck is alive everywhereβ.. Roberts is accessible. Heβs a rebuke to academic poetry which turns in on itself and never looks at the world outside its window. Heβs fun and heβs a damned good read.
β Dr Nicholas Reid
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Itβs good, itβs real good. Suckerpunch punchlines that get you questioning the nature of your very existence.
β James Compton
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You have ranged far and wide. The range is there in the poems, and they benefit from it. I enjoy it all, and find a lot to admire. Thank you so much for sending it to me.
β C. K. Stead, Poet Laureate, New Zealand
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A nostalgic β60s vagabond poetic, one eminently suited to the microphone or an audience of loversβ¦the kind of thing that many readers of poetry still associate with honesty & truthfulness.
β Robert Maclean, Landfall