Kiss It Up To God. (poetry reviews).

Kiss It Up To Good by Nadine Mozon Fly By Night Press, 2001, $13.00, ISBN 1-930-08301-7

Nadine Mozon's collection of poetry is marked by its wide-ranging subject matter. Kiss It Up To God makes room for: tributes to literary luminaries; a match between Venus and Serena; New York subway scenes; family portraits; and such vital issues as colorism and interracial love. While I admire the reach of Mozon's interests, many of her poems seem flattened by subject matter rather than animated by it. For example, "SAY WHEN!" reveals a speaker who has reached her threshold in our all too-violent country.

   Now we gotta say when to those
   who pull triggers instead/

   who get annoyed just enough
   to blow off a few heads/

   just for fun or perhaps just a
   way of exposing the hole/
   in their soul

While the poem's message elicits full assent from its reader, the poem itself leaves one uninvolved in any significant participation or inquiry.

Mozon hits her stride when she creates vivid scenes for the reader to enter. She accomplishes this in several poems about young people and childhood. It is there that her voice is fresh and playful, her images penetrating and often humorous. Mozon also takes leaps in "Asleep & Awake/Cycles & Rituals," the final section of her collection. In "Follow Me: A Cycling Dream," the speaker recounts a dream of riding a bicycle with Jesus.

   So there I am callin/

   Be easy, Lord Jeezy/

   Just can't bear the thought of
   your robe getting caught/

   in the chain!

Through its wit and command of detail, this poem creates an inevitable surprise of an ending.

Audrey Petty is a writer who lives and teaches in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.