The Magritte Poems

Mark Young is a force of nature. Young's poetic output is vast, with some seventy books, and settles the quality versus quantity dispute. Each book bespeaks an impressive mind that encompasses and synthesizes vast bodies of knowledge, including science and philosophy, visual and linguistic art, politics, film, among a range of popular cultures. He transforms a vast array of materials around him into brilliantly concentrated poems in a wide array of styles that spawn a change in perception of artistic and human experience inclusive of perceptive thought, often infused with humor. Young's work calls to mind the singularity of the well-wrought individual poem as housed in a coherent, larger body of work.

The Magritte Poems as magnum opus is testament to a sustained, muscular, confident talent by focusing on the work of René Magritte, other artists, and philosophers. With a staggering breadth and command of his framework, Young enlivens and enlightens the experience of his poems and philosophical thought by way of deceptively simple verbiage that sculpts fresh realizations from the materials of our era. Only the most brilliant writers bring to poetry the level of humility, confidence, and generosity we see in this serial creator of massive and entirely worthwhile projects. I remain amazed at the unleashing of a devastatingly alert and brainy mind and am most interested in the thinking behind each of the individual poems.

The fusion of matter-of-fact statement and profoundly witty and intelligent observation transcend mere angles of idea or ekphrastic blips. Young ferrets out of elements of a deeper, sometimes lighter, truth that offers strangely earned awareness of the nature of mind itself. His work owns up to the reality that each of us can do, be, think more and better. In "The Son of Man (1)" Young closes with:

If we know the questions then
why concern ourselves with
answers? & if we know the answers
why be concerned at all?

Isn't the painting reality enough? [The Son of Man]

Moments of the remote self, inspecting, speculating, shaping wisdom are gleaned from several basis points above the raw material. Young's work is fluid and inclusive and draws us in from the dry-seeming commentary that rises beyond itself. The unpretentious language challenges his readers to rise to this staggering intellect. These poems serve both as an impressive compendium of a lifelong study of Magritte while providing page after page of important and stunning poems. The Magritte Poems is a treasure trove of thought and poetry that is wholeheartedly recommended.

• Sheila E. Murphy