Review
Title: Litany with Wings
Author: Tyler Chadwick
Publisher: BCC Press
Genre: Poetry
Year Published: 2022
Number of Pages: 137 pages (plus notes)
Binding: Paper
ISBN: ISBN 9781948218566
Price: 9.95
Reviewed by Heather Harris Bergevin for the Association of Mormon Letters
The first thing you must know about Litany with Wings is that Tyler Chadwick is a wordsmith, and there’s no shame in needing to look up something or read it a second time to gain a better understanding. His comprehension of timing and rhythm is spectacular, and his imagery is lovely. These are not poems that you glance over quickly or read dozens at a time. They are heady, dense, and lovely but ponderous. This makes Litany not a fast read but a delightful one. Consider each piece as an aperitif, something to enjoy in pieces rather than in one large meal.
I love wordplay and often get accused by friends and family of using what my Daddy calls “ten-dollar words,” the kind that you need to look up and figure out all the layers of in order to truly delve into a piece and get into the magic of it. I consider it a compliment to need to read pieces several times in order to fully understand them or to figure out where they are headed halfway through and then go back to reread and make sure you’re right. Chadwick’s poetry is this way, and I did need to double-check the meaning of several words! Those who love wordplay and a bit more obscure words will particularly love reading these pieces.
From Litany, with Birdsong and an Antique Quilt:
“Feel Father’s breath shiver in the kiss
of a quail’s feather across your open palm—
Psalm the sky’s ancient filigree– Spin its fickle
gossamer into stand long and tight as DNA–…”
(Notice how palm/Psalm are used in rhythm, into upon second or third reading your brain corrects then as their cousin word. Beautiful.)
However, though complex, they are never unapproachable, and all are enjoyable to a general audience who enjoys lilting beauty and psalmistry. The musical quality of many pieces is far more Isaiah than David, but the central pieces on family topics are especially accessible and beautiful in their cleverness and comprehension of the universe. Many have scriptural undertones but also sprinklings of classical artists. I truly enjoy the way many pieces have patterns and rhythms which hearken to a pre-modern age but are discussing either scriptural things in modern ways or modern scenarios, melding old and new into a new and poetic alloy.
He addresses the patriarchy of living in Utah:
“Scrubbing the kitchen floor
on my hands and knees:
Dad walked in, looked down, said,
“You’ll make someone a good wife
someday,” then grinned. I shook my head,
laughed back, returned to searching
for my reflection
in linoleum.”
And his wife’s pain of endometriosis, and their family’s infertility, in comparison to Sarah:
“… And
all I get? Endometriosis divided by
infertility’s stigma in the State
of ‘So, How Many Kids?’ While they
paused contraception for a month
and, voila, fruit the size of my brooding
God? That-makes-me-so-mad.”
His love for J. Kirk Richard’s work comes through in his many pieces on Heavenly Mother and Her work as well:
”I think the sky may be a woman– See how
she spoons into cumulus– How she vessels
the death-rush of Eurus like uterus vessels
flesh, fleshes soul, flushes placenta crimson
and supple as solitude…”
And, as someone who loves to see Mormon Feminism in works, I’m glad that Chadwick is clearly and beautifully intersectional in his Feminism and kind and loving to his family and world. He sees through a prism of compassion, and empathy, and, frankly, the world would be better off if we all tried this approach.
Who will enjoy this book: unless your great aunt is an academic versed in both liturgy and linguistics, this might not be for her. However, if you like a challenge and love playing around with words, these lovely poems are complex puzzles and deliciously layers pieces for your brain to chew on long after finishing your read.