If You're Going to Read Poetry, Read This

Ship of Fool
Poems by William Trowbridge
Red Hen Press
$18.95

Maybe you've noticed this is my first book review. That's because it's not often I find a book I want to plug. Especially not a book written by an esteemed yet modest professor from my own MFA program. Not only is Bill Trowbridge one hell of a faculty member, but he's also one clever writer. Read on.

Ship of Fool, Trowbridge's long-awaited collection, out now from Red Hen Press, is three parts. That is two parts humor and one part poignancy. Parts one and three follow Trowbridge's lovable schlemiel, Fool, a guy who tries so hard but has nothing but trouble coming for him. Part two is a taste of nostalgia served up both like a sundae and a slap in the face. I enjoyed this collection, but I'd bet on the fact that almost anyone could pick it up, poet and layman alike, and take away Trowbridge's message: There's a fool in all of us, but there's good in there too.

I'm not a fan of reviews that give away a work's best lines, but here's a little taste from a poem called "Class of '59':

"We muster smiles as we try/ to read between the lines/ and wattles. This must/ be you. This must be me, we muse,/ surprised we're not unhappy, showing our age,/ showing our class,/ lifting our plastic cups."


So buy it, you Fool.