Justin Anthony Wetch

Bending the Universe by Justin Anthony Wetch is the commercial reprinting of his first collection of poetry. Wetch is an artist, poet, photographer, musician, pretentious egomaniac, and messy-haired fool from Palmer, Alaska.

This collection covers several themes and the themes are laid out in a way that benefits the book overall. The first section, "Society," is very hard hitting. The faults and failures of modern America are described in detail. The pace is fast and jumps from point to point. Once realizing the Wetch is a musician so I took to reading his work more as urban lyrics. This seemed to work well as there is no real line structure and what meter there is seems to be more like hip-hop. “Church” is one of the best in that part of the collection and shows promise as poetry. The topics are current and reflect the thinking of many.

The section “Love” fell flat with me except for the opening poem “Your song on the Radio.” Perhaps, it was nostalgia calling me. The other poems seemed a bit trite and overplayed. The third section, "Life," is a bit strong than “Love” but lacks the power of "Society". There still seems to be the essence of the current trend of writing platitudes and four or five line poems:

It is such a pity how some people
Are dead long before their hearts stop beating.
This old man died at twenty-five
When life told him to stop dreaming

To Wetch’s credit, his poems are much longer and more thought out than the new current trend of writers. He seems to be trying to bridge the gap between lyricist and poet. “Empty Wealth” sounds like it could have been an 80s metal song:

Matching Rolex watches
Not happy after all
Bought a huge new mansion
With gold-plated walls.

A garage full of Lamborghinis
Can’t fill an empty heart
Sometimes even the rich
Wish for a fresh start.

I don’t think that is too far from a from Def Leppard or Quiet Riot. I like it. It’s really good as an 80s rock lyric.

The final two sections “Personal” and “Nature” allows the poet to finish stronger than expected. Personally, this is a hit and miss selection for me. Although the misses outnumber the hits, the hits when present are potent and enough to save this collection. This collection would be best for those looking for lyrics than traditional poetry.… (mehr)