Book review: "Disappointed Psalms" by Brian Clements

Brian Clements’ book of poetry, “Disappointed Psalms,” is a sort of public service announcement for society to open their eyes to the world around them and realize that we are existing through rose-tinted glasses. It is divided into four sections, or poems, I am not sure which, so I will refer to them as sections. The first section titled “Corpses” begins with a description of corpses being burned and dragged through the streets. The narrator reflects on the scene, and with the lines “Yes, I hear the whispering of many-terror on every side!/ But my tongue is stuck to my jaw” I am reminded of the actions of people during the time of Nazi Germany and Hitler’s reign. While aghast with the horrors of the Nazi Regime, no one dared to speak up, for fear that they would be the next target for extermination. All too often we are beaten down, feeling defeated and almost too exhausted to stand up in opposition to that which we do not agree: “And all my bones are out of joint/ And I can barely stand to speak.” We are “…like a deaf man who doesn’t hear./ …like a dumb man who doesn’t speak.” We are bombarded by the atrocity of death multiple times a day through the media; we do not want to hear of such horrors-we do not speak up because we assume that in doing so no one will hear our lowly dissention over the noise of the world. The narrator in this section shares the sentiments of many: what good can one person do? Instead of speaking up we instead turn away, perhaps hoping that what we see is not real, perhaps even lying to ourselves that everything is fine in the world, “Their mouths chew lies/ And their bellies are filled with lies.”

The end of the “Corpse” section is met with one entitled “Mouth” where the narrator speaks of his/her disappointment in God and His followers. Those that produce the corpses that were spoken of in the previous section are not struck down by the hand of God. It seems as if God (and the moral teachings of Christianity) is nonexistent, insubstantial, and purposeless. “But we’re all still waiting” for God to punish these transgressors, yet he does not. “You are become many deaths, Lord,/ And you do nothing but/ Sit in ambush in villages/ And murder the innocent./ Even your enemies shall be ashamed.” However, the narrator does not wish for the word of God to be stifled: “I will allow your name to be shouted/ Over the rooftops and over the gunshots” so that maybe someone will take heed to His teachings and stop the atrocities of war, famine, disease, and suffering. “Mouth” ends with the line “Be moved by this prayer for action.” The narrator feels that perhaps not all hope is lost, and perhaps speaking up first to God will produce the necessary results.

The following section “The Word” is the shortest of the four. The narrator questions God about the validity of His word, His teachings. It ends with the narrator telling God that he/she does not believe in Him. The final section titled “Without End” is a list of daily concerns of a member of our society, such as: “You start heroin, television, gin, wearing black, jerking off, running,/ playing cards, and there is no end./ …You start lending money and there is no end./ …You start blonde and turn red and brown and ash and there is no end.” We are too caught up in our lives and routines to concern ourselves with issues that matter, such as those the narrator speaks of in the previous sections. The end result is a Nation of Complacence: a world that lacks empathy for its fellow man, lies to itself about the atrocities before its very eyes, and continues its routine as if nothing is amiss.