“Poet Laureate Of A Dirty Garage” by Wayne Mason, erbacce-press, 2009.
Wayne Mason has been lauded as a working man’s poet and that is clearly defined in this collection of poems published by erbacce-press. Poet Laureate Of A Dirty Garage is equal parts blue collar factory man, lone writer, and side-car Buddhist.
He is at his best in the poems “Defeated On Monday Morning”, “Poet Laureate of My Garage”, “Martyrs”, and “Swing Your Pen Like A Hammer And Sickle”. Wayne understands the essence of the common man and how hard it is to find glimmers of hope amongst the day to day plodding movements of punching the clock. He explores the idea that his words can chip away at this monotony, but that they might not save any lives from the factory….except his own.
Wayne grazes over images of Buddha in this collection, but does not dig very deep though his fascination is noted. The recurrent mention of Buddha speaks to “what if” there is something more than this continuous factory life that maybe something exists beyond the things that might make life so hard.
My favorite poem in this 18 poem collection is “Dreaming of Han Shan”.
“I was only 16
when I read the
cold mountain
poems of
Han Shan and
the simplicity
like Chinese
brush strokes
on rice paper
kicked me
in the gut
and more
than ever I
saw the truth”
This collection speaks for the factory worker and begins to stretch its arms out to new age ideas. This chap by Wayne Mason can be purchased from erbacce-press by going to: www.erbacce-press.com for more details.
