Wanda Coleman. Ostinato Vamps.

Wanda Coleman. Ostinato Vamps. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 2003. 115 pp. $12.95.

The title of Wanda Coleman's latest book provides one of the keys to unlocking the poetry within. Like pieces from a musician, her collection of poetry vamps through various repeated patterns and themes truly fulfilling the "ostinato" description in her title. Throughout her poems, a reader gains insight into the complex issues surrounding truth, music, sexuality, and coping with what one encounters in life. These ideas reappear consistently, and the differences in the way they are discussed and expressed build a dialogue that allows the reader to experience the complexity. In language reminiscent of other linguistic masters, such as Toni Morrison, nothing is extraneous in Coleman's poetry; each line or phrase is packed with words, ideas, and images that force the reader to pay close attention to every "moment" and to value every syllable. She uses language in a way that manages to express the seemingly inexpressible and to give voice to emotion, often raw emotion.

The first of the four parts that form this collection is titled "Red Noir," and the poems live up to that title. They embody the bleakness and pessimism often associated with film noir. In the title poem, the narrator comments on the effects of feeling smothered by the city, by strangers, and by disconnection from the surrounding world. The poem's closing lines highlight the speaker's response:

   you wear your loneliness like a trench coat
   pull its collar high against the chill
   as you walk the night whispers
   along the back alley of your soul.

Alienated from the outside world, the narrator of the poem chooses to wrap herself within that isolation and navigate those feelings on her own. Isolation and loneliness are also themes in other poems, such as "Meanwhile in San Francisco" and "Requiem for a Nest." "Thirty Seconds over America" sustains some of these bleak images; however, this poem counters that bleakness with a bright image at the end. After a descriptive listing of men and women caught in struggles to make a living and find love, the poem finishes with "there's a rainbow over Ararat / painted in sunny yellows and aquamarines," perhaps suggesting a positive future or new beginning despite desolation.

The second section of "Ostinato Vamps" contains some of the most musically laden poems. Coleman is adept at merging music with language. Whether dealing with abstract rhythm in language, such as "Broken Rhythms," or the philosophical impact of jazz in "Jazz Theory 101," where the voice reflects that "aesthetics is the science of vulnerability / bruises transformed, wounds immortalized," music in Coleman's poetry becomes intrinsic to life. "Plum Hunger" starts with the lines "the last note finished / and left me empty / craving the night," illustrating that music is a life-giving and sustaining force. The song "Danny Boy" becomes background music for "Fragments of an Essay," in which Coleman ruminates on the motivations that led a 13-year-old boy named Danny to kill himself. While music appears in other places within the collection, this section emphasizes and expresses the importance of music through a variety of poetic interpretations.

"Two Fugues & A Prayer" is the title of section three, and it accurately lists what is contained within. "Night Widow Fugue" and "Sorceress of Muntu" express a variety of themes in several different voices. Combining dialogue, philosophy, song lyrics, questions, and other interjections, Coleman's fugues inspire readers toward deep contemplation. "Night Widow Fugue" focuses on love and relationships. The poem is filled with conversations and questions about love and lovers, such as "how much romance & how many Romeos prove a woman a woman?.... Sorceress of Muntu" invokes a "tragic muse" and questions the state of the world in such lines as

   something gray's creeping across liberty's
   consciousness
   the psychobabble of late video decline
   a savage & wasteful piece of fiction
   Like Usher slurping into the primordial sludge
   evidence of the dyspeptic generation.

These multi-vocal, philosophic ruminations are followed by Coleman's "Prayer for America Reborn." The rhythmic repetition of the lines calls for a washing away of all the problems of America, where "harmless indiscretions are fodder / for the lies of bigots, fascists, and misanthropes / where community is counterfeit." Despite the negative images of an America ruled by lies, misunderstandings, and isolation, Coleman states, "let the song go forth on spacious skies," invoking an association with "America the Beautiful" and the idea that there indeed can be a rebirth into a brighter future.

The last section, "The Weighing of My Heart," contains some very personal poems. In "Gone Exits," the narrative voice in the poem characterizes the uncertainty in her life when she speaks of "living on nothing but tea leaves and jeremiads / an unsteady diet for the inky mind." "The Museum of You" details the museum-like qualities of life, explaining how one can be defined by one's belongings, and finishes with the thought that

   you make yourself believe that you
   are among the lucky,
   having lived long enough to run your finger
   through your own dust.

These last poems provide instances of self-reflection and self-discovery. They struggle with human mortality and the burdens of the human psyche.

Ostinato Vamps is an intriguing poetic contribution. The incorporation and exploration of music in Coleman's poetry, both in language itself and as larger themes governing her entire collection, build on a strong tradition in African American poetry. In most places, her use of free verse is fairly conventional; however, where she creates within the multi-voiced form of the fugue, her style develops unique conversational qualities. Her insights into human experience, through the search for love, truth, or meaning in our existence, speak not only to the struggles inherent in life but also to ways to cope. Where her poetry comments on contemporary issues, Coleman is ever hopeful. This poetry collection speaks to all students of life on the roles we should play as individuals and in harmony with each other.

Sara Kosiba

Kent State University