The work is intended to emulate a symphony based on the concept of a requiem mass. Sharpe [...]]]> Sometimes a title says it all. Mike Sharpe’s Requiem for New Orleans is a lament for a New Orleans that no longer exists. At the same time, the title reflects the stylistic approach Sharpe takes to the subject.

The work is intended to emulate a symphony based on the concept of a requiem mass. Sharpe takes this approach because he believes it is appropriate for a disaster in which the “biblical proportions are manifest. Thus, Sharpe combines more traditional poetry and prose with not only excerpts from a requiem mass and the Bible but also blues and popular music and even the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately, that is also the work’s downfall. Sharpe tries to pack too many stylistic elements into too few pages.

While mourning New Orleans, Sharpe retains the political edge of his first work of poetry, Thou Shalt Not Kill Unless Otherwise Instructed. Sharpe is highly critical of the president and his administration for their failures. And even those pieces with an overt political tone are explicit in portraying the devastation. For example, while the theme of “Katrina” is how the storm revealed the president’s failures, Sharpe also writes:

Well, there’s stinking bodies floating in the water
and stinking bodies lying in rooms.
There’s stinking bodies in the doorways
and stinking bodies in the attics.
There’s corpses in the chapels too
and dead swept away in the bayou.

Yet while the political angle is predominant, it is not the sole focus. Sharpe also raises more philosophical questions, such as in “Where Are You, God?”

I am poor and black
abandoned
abandoned all my life.I am poor and white
abandoned
abandoned all my life.

Where are you, God?
Where is my salvation?

At bottom, that is also an underlying theme of the work. How do we restore what we have lost both physically and psychologically? Can we atone for the failures and errors that contributed to the disaster? Can we redeem the people and spirit of New Orleans?

While Sharpe’s blending of diverse styles is not wholly successful, the political and spiritual questions he raises are well worth contemplating.

Mike Sharpe, Requiem for New Orleans

That’s probably part of the [...]]]> A confession first. I am not a poetry fan. I don’t know why, but it is something I never got into. My preferred “form” of the art is songwriting. Most of my favorite songwriters are generally called “topical,” meaning they’re writing about what they see is happening in the world.

That’s probably part of the reason I like Mike Sharpe’s Thou Shalt Not Kill Unless Otherwise Instructed. It is a book of poems and stories he began writing last December after hearing a graduate of a local high school had been killed in Iraq. Sharpe’s work focuses largely, but not exclusively, on that war and how we got there. Moreover, it brings to mind something Allen Ginsberg says in No Direction Home, Martin Scorsese’s new documentary on Bob Dylan (about which more tomorrow). According to Ginsberg, “Poetry is words that are emphasized that make your hair stand on end.” By that definition, this is unquestionably a book of poetry.

The bookends of the poetry section of the book are the attack on the Twin Towers and the current morass in Iraq. Although humor occasionally makes an appearance, the bulk of the poems are told from standpoints that are painful but resonate with truth. The closing “stories” (more like musings, actually) are two somewhat sharp-witted takes on current political issues and a heart-wrenching tale of the death of a solider in Iraq.

In the opening poem, “The Twin Towers,” Sharpe expresses grief not only for the loss of the towers and the people in them but for how that tragedy has led to “jihad against jihad” and how our remembrance of those losses has been “reduced to hubris and lies.” Another of Sharpe’s themes ponders what God must think of the current state of human affairs. For example, two pieces reflect conversations between Allah/God and bin Laden/Bush. The message is that the mere fact these (or other) men believe they are guided by their deity does not automatically mean they are in fact pursuing that deity’s goals.

While this could easily be passed off as simply “protest poetry,” it truly is more than that. In fact, in a postscript, Sharpe explains some of his thought processes and what was behind some of the more striking poems to avoid confusion or misunderstanding. Granted, his work is generally critical of where we have been led and where we are. Yet both the poetry and prose display as much concern and care for the soldiers and noncombatants in the battle zone.

“It’s Hard” addresses the conflict and tragedy that faces a soldier who, faced with an immediate decision, must shoot a boy, an old woman or a family in a car. “Elegy for American Soldiers Killed in Iraq” uses the names of various American casualties, sadly noting, “We need another wall on which to inscribe these names.” Sharpe’s writings about the meaning and effect of the deaths of soldiers on the families border on gut-wrenching. Yet at the same time, “Support Our Troops” reflects a sad reality of what far too many believe constitutes support:

Support our troops by displaying bumper stickers
Support our troops by giving parties
Support our troops by going shopping
Support our troops by standing on the sidelines
Support our troops by keeping your mouth shut

Fortunately, Sharpe is not keeping his mouth shut. The anguish he expresses is in itself a form of support for our troops and their families. It is also an eloquent cry for our nation and world as they are again ravaged by the heartbreak and horror of war.

“The Mobilization Orders,” Mike Sharpe,
Thou Shalt Not Kill Unless Otherwise Instructed