BLACK CALCULUS BY NORM MATTOX
Norm’s poems have immediate effects like a flash of lightning upon the eye. They appeal through imagination and no through reason. His style is classic throughout the book so far as his felicitous phraseology, the crystalline perfection in the ending of the verse, and lucidity of expression are concerned.
Amazon USANorm’s poems have immediate effects like a flash of lightning upon the eye. They appeal through imagination and no through reason. His style is classic throughout the book so far as his felicitous phraseology, the crystalline perfection in the ending of the verse, and lucidity of expression are concerned.
In Black calculus #1, the speaker expresses his displeasure regarding the people as ‘other’ who have melanin eyes by them who don’t have melanin ones. Through this poem, he shows his concern about his smile with the teeth out might not be mistaken as a disparaging smile. So generous of him!
In Black calculus #3, the speaker wonders where he can live in the world in his whole without any restrictions based on some standards. With a mathematical tilt, he pens down “i am always reduced to simplest form/like numerators and denominators/divided by a common factor”. The speaker seems to be frustrated because of some unstated highly confining instructions given to him.
One of the most captivating poems, ‘where i live’ where the speaker denotes his home as ‘the land of humanity’. In his perspective love and blood are associated with one other thereby, saving all of us by taking all mutually.
my home is the land of humanity.
love, with its vibration, deserves, even the possibility,
of connecting us like reasons
like rhymes
like rhythms,
like tones,
like the music
that has colors
that have steps to a dance with at least one,
other human being!
Black Calculus is a distressing, see-through, and poetically powerful poetic collection. Black Calculus will surely attract the reader who looks for more than a simple expression of personal experience. It is my honor to recommend to poetry audiences Norm’s wonderful work.