Book Review: Four Murders

In his introduction to Four Murders (an exclusive poetry e-book available from the Merchants Keep webstore), Rich Ristow quickly traces the impact of technological development on poetry from ancient times to the present.  Considering the 21st Century state of the art, he notes how "E-book devices currently make a mess of poetic form and lineation, as do mobile phones."  Ristow attempts to circumvent such garbling here in his own book by deliberately composing poems with "thin syllabic lines."  The result?--a collection that can be enjoyed in any reading format.

Homicide serves as the central theme of the poetic quartet comprising Four Murders.  The lead-off piece, "Men of Dirt and Dust," offers a tale of vengeance from beyond the (shallow) grave, as a rape victim turned indiscriminate vigilante is haunted by the males she's killed.  When reduced to summary, this might sound like some lost segment from Creepshow, but Ristow transcends pulp with his sublime imagery (e.g. "shallow graves / sprouting
decayed arms / swaying like sick, wind-blown / brown grass").

"To Be Bandersnatched" is all the more unsettling for its allusions to Lewis Carroll.  The language of childhood fantasy proves starkly incongruous in this 1st-person account from a sadistic killer (one who wields a softball bat with past victims' hair stuck to its head).

The third poem, "The End Without a Hero: A Triptych," reads like a verse version of Cormac McCarthy, with its wonderful depiction of awful ruin.  But as Ristow's title suggests, unlike the father in The Road, the poem's speaker is committed to protecting no one but himself.  Inaction breeds introspection, and the speaker discovers that the only thing more devastating than global apocalypse is personal remorse.

"In Contempt of Sleep" is the most unforgettable of the four poems, not simply because it concludes the collection.  The piece is a promise of nocturnal haunting: "I shall come into your dreams," the speaker announces assuredly in the opening line.  This eloquent bogey's description of its own nightmarish qualities lingers in the reader's imagination, as does the ultimate revelation of why the speaker is so focused on the "you" being addressed.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this brief e-book is how much Ristow has packed into it.  His truncated lines resonate with their imagery, yet also weave together to form clear narrative threads.  Fans of dark-themed poetry are sure to delight in Ristow's work.  Simply put, Four Murders makes for one killer read.