The Silence of Men

It is a rare thing to find works by a man willing to explore, and subsequently reveal, all the features that have informed his experience of boyhood-to-manhood, then challenge and question virtually every one of those features, reaffirming some, rejecting others, all in search of a formulation of personal identify that resonates at his core in a way that howls "authentic"--even when it flies in the face of some of the most basic assumptions our culture makes about what it means to be a man. At turns enlightening, heartbreaking, even humorous, a brave work.

The Silence of Men is Richard Jeffrey Newman's first book of poetry. The book is beautifully printed and presented by CavanKerry Press, in keeping with the contents. Newman is a man who has learned from and been strengthened by his life experience. Love, family, sex, religion, and violence have all played integral parts in making him the man he is today. Poetically, his words penetrate to the reader's marrow and shine with honesty and emotion. Richard Jeffrey Newman's work is exceptional. Readers won't have to scratch their heads and guess at his meanings. He expresses human emotions in ways profound, powerful, and poignant. In The Silence of Men, he tries "to give the dream a shape this page will hold." How he gives life to those words taking shape on the page is an enlightening journey. This book of poetry for mature readers is highly recommended.

I have now read this entire book three times, and it continues to move me. What I appreciate most is Newman's insistence on letting memory and the past lead to reflecting upon and enriching the present. Memory within these poems is an ever-present, ever-changing force, not an obsession or grudge to be chipped away, but a source of richer voice and vision. The author's persona comes across throughout as one that is willing to live deeply and fully, actively riding and owning the waves of circumstance, reaching for meaning from them. People are very much alive to him--this is not the voice of a solipsist. We see all this in long poems such as "Poem from the Barnes and Noble Cafe" and "Coitus Interruptus" as well as in his intriguing imaginative "story" poems. The speaker is consistently one who feels the pain of today's violent world, and who views sex as a rich, reflective dialogue that leads to increased humanity. He avoids conventional masculine metaphors for sexuality, instead portraying himself as a tree, as earth. His is also a voice capable of beautiful longing ("Because"), and of a polyamorous acceptance ("Here"). What is not just innovative but admirable about the narrative voice is his relentless determination to face the consequences of his actions, like in "Bill's Story," or to come to terms with his dad's abandoning of him, without regret or recrimination, only melancholy ("After the Funeral"). Ultimately, Newman presents himself as part of a deeply human(e) fellowship of "complex beings / we believe ourselves to be: the people / we need always to come back to" ("The Speed and Weight of Justice").