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A Review of James Penha: Greatest Hits 1975-2000
by Chris Mansel in mini-MAG--outside the ordinary
"When his nose was gone
After his eyes had popped out,
They pushed his puttied skin
From the bone
With their shoes
And pissed the blaze out
Before it spread far enough
To kill him. That's
When they took the picture
I saw silently
And heard his scream"
- From the poem, La Secuela by James Penha
It 's easy to shy away from reality. It is even easier to not write about it. It is unbelievably easy to just write about the mist outside your door and how it cuddles around the pepper plant outside your window. But even the pepper plant could be sinister. The mist? Should I even begin? This is the second in the series of Greatest Hits books I have reviewed from Pudding House Publications. The first by Shelia E. Murphy was brilliant.This edition by James Penha is just as startling. Anyone can say a book is a greatest hits. To prove yourself worthy is quite special. Before the poem September 1, 1914 The Last Passenger Pigeon Receives A Guest, Penha quotes W. H. Auden. The quote is as follows, "Ironic points of light flash out wherever the Just exchange their messages." In this book points of light spray their essence about wherever the just could read these messages. These messages are indeed the greatest hits.
