Red Low Fog / Transcript [Documentary in Poems] by Melissa E. Jordan
You might as well just use her real name.
OK, so I wouldn’t want to speak out of turn,
But she was born Darcy - “the dark one,” you’ll learn.
You might as well just use her real name.
Witness statement: Daniel Hill, stepfather of Delphine Kearne
Winner of Animal Heart Press’ Annual Poetry Collection Contest 2022, Red Low Fog / Transcript by Melissa Jordan is one of the most unique, intricate and spellbinding collections I’ve read to date. Based in northwestern Connecticut, Jordan’s debut collection of poetry, Bain-Marie, was published in 2015. Her poetic works have appeared in numerous literary journals.
Red Low Fog / Transcript stands out for the carefully crafted ways it stays with traditional poetic forms but uses these forms to create distinctive narratives and voices throughout the collection.
Telling the story of a ski lodge bombing in upstate New York, Jordan weaves an intricate tale of love, gossip, urban myth and story-telling through the prose. In her notes on the collection, Jordan clarifies the styles chosen for each character or group of characters and the style's origins.
The collection centres on Thomas Kearne, suspected of committing the bombing, and his wife, Delphine Kearne. Throughout the collection, the details of the two and their life story is gradually teased out through peripheral characters who knew the couple. Various narratives weave together to present the reader with a cacophony of voices and opinions, one they’ll have to decipher their conclusions from.
Jordan employs a Cantena Rondo poetic style to tell brief excepts from ‘witness statements’:
I don’t really want to talk about Thomas.
No one can ever know the real story.
You’ll just reduce it to grim allegory.
No one can ever know the real story.
Twelve such statements are scattered throughout the collection, drawn from different community members. The main narrator through the collection is a character called Alex Baeza. Alex is a director who has been developing a documentary about the couple and their creative work as children’s books writer and illustrator. Alex’s perspective is told using blank verse - a classic narrative style to help provide clarity through the collection.
Delphine seems willing to describe
Her hometown, but beyond that, she’ll
Share little of her murky past,
Just that she fled while a minor.
Stone faced, Delphine says, I had my
Reasons and I had my angels.
We hear from Delphine and Thomas both individually and together, again in different poetic ways. Delphine’s voice is told through Villanelle, “a French poem from the Renaissance period, is lyrical … a little unpredictable - all traits true of Delphine herself”, explains Jordan.
Where Delphine’s verses feel intimate, and conspiracy, Thomas’s voice is told through a more erratic style known as anaphora. Jordan explains, “Even at the time he meets Delphine, he is beginning to struggle with looping thoughts and emphatic opinions, underlined by the repetitive nature of anaphora.”
While a few themes move in and out of the collection, the idea of all-encompassing, addictive love stood out the most to me. Thomas and Delphine’s relationship borders on obsessive and gave me full Bonnie and Clyde vibes throughout:
Yes, I do what I can to keep her going -
until she’s ready for real work again.
It’s not much - but it keeps contacts flowing.
And hell, I even check on him when I can -
A most unpleasant task, even when knowing
How a disease like that could take down a man.
But I must tell you - I find it unnerving -
their minds are still linked - it’s quite disturbing.
Jordan’s collection is one that requires many readings and sitting with to fully appreciate its brilliance. The pure craft and skill of her poetic abilities are immediately obvious, but the depth of the narrative she’s telling here needs time and contemplation - one worth giving if you can.
Elaine Mead is a freelance writer and book reviewer, currently residing in nipaluna (Hobart), Tasmania. She is passionate about the ways we can use literature to learn from our experiences to become more authentic versions of ourselves and obsessed with showing you photos of her Dachshund puppy. You can find her online under www.wordswithelaine.com.
