A BIT OF MOTHERLY AFFECTION

Source: www.francisrichey.com

Awkwardly seated on a chair perched atop a stage in a sloppily decorated room, Frances Richey reads from her critically acclaimed poetry collection, The Warrior.  Some attentively listen while others wonder as to why no refreshments were provided.  Yet as she sets down the book to address any questions, it becomes obvious that this poet is content with her work and her ultimate purpose in writing her works is far more personal than to just woo audiences.
Richey’s The Warrior is a poetic interpretation of her emotions regarding her son fighting in the Iraq War.  She claims that it is “[her] attempt to talk to him…about things [she] couldn’t talk to him in person about,” because she believes that “you can…heal your relationships with [art].” The first thing the listener immediately notices is that her poetry doesn’t rhyme or follow any classical meter and sounds more like a narrative.  She reads four poems, addressing her condition a week before her son’s departure, upon first seeing her son’s gun, upon hearing her son describe the training he went through, and while waiting for the days to pass as her son fights in Iraq.  While all these works are impressive and depressingly thought provoking, the best of the bunch is the last one, “Waiting.”  By repeatedly contrasting the times between the United States and Iraq, Richey expertly delivers the tension associated with the passage of time when one is terrified of the destruction the next second may hold.  What’s most riveting, however, is how visual the poems are, making chilling comparisons such as “the drag line of a spider” to emphasize objects one would normally ignore.
Afterwards, Richey goes on to describe her feelings about her son and poetry. She starts off with how her son grew increasingly conservative and it hurt their relationship that she was unable to understand how strongly he felt about certain issues.  She then goes on to describe her first work of poetry, which she states had nothing to do with her son. She also mentions that, having spent decades in the business industry before coming into poetry, such a shift from objective writing to subjective writing was not a smooth transition.  She claims that, in business, she was “always trying to sell something,” which is not the case with her poetry.
It should be noted that the lack of classic rhyming patterns may have worked well for Richey, but it is now commonly and ignorantly believed that only amateur poets strive to make their works rhyme.  If one was to look at Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” the rhyming pattern shows a mastery of the English language that is uncommon amongst experts, let alone amateurs.  It is understandable that rhyme shouldn’t be forced, but completely denying it as a useful tool in good poetry is also unjust.
Frances Richey is a talented poet who represents an underrepresented point of view.  While her presence is quite professional, her work is reassuringly motherly.