 | AMAZE | Book Review |
| Book Review: Sand Dunes of the Great Lakes by C. J. Elfont, Edna A. Elfont. Hardcover 144 pages (August 1, 1997). Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press. ISBN: 1886947163. As the title specifies, this coffee table book is about the Sand Dunes of the Great Lakes, the largest collection of freshwater dunes on earth. Primarily, it is a photography book; C. J. Elfont is the photographer. His wife, Edna A. Elfont, has written the text for the book, including a number of cinquains, some single stanza and a few multiple stanza, to accompany the photographs. As a photography book, I heartily recommend Sand Dunes of the Great Lakes as a beautifully made book, full of gorgeous artwork. This review, however, is concerned with the cinquains included in the book. Edna Elfont appears to have the classic American cinquain (viz., the Crapseian form) in mind for her poetic model, rather than the didactic cinquain form (e.g., thematic word-count poems). I say, "appears," because the cinquains are uneven in form and because a substantial number of the poems are little more than photograph captions, reduced to 22 syllables (usually) and arranged in the classic 2-4-6-8-2 syllables form. The poet states, in the Introduction, that the written part of the book is her "attempt to tell what the images cannot." The poems, taken on their face, do accomplish that goal. However, critically considered by current standards as representatives of the American cinquain form, these poems leave something to be desired. In the opening poem, "Passing / Time ...," the poem is untitled (all of these cinquains are untitled); the syllabic count is regular: 2-4-6-8-2; there is no "turn" at line 5; and the poem is essentially no more than an aphoristic sentence. While this is clearly versification, there does not appear to be any consideration of the iambic metrical standard in any of the poems. The poet seems unaware of the final "turn" in line 4 or 5 which is typical of the form. The poem, "Are not / Mountains ...," has an irregular syllabic count: 2-6-6-8-2, as does a following double cinquain: 2-4-6-8-2 2-4-5-8-2. In general, the cinquains in this book follow the simplest cinquain form, with occasional lapses, but are either pedestrian descriptions of the photographs or rather stilted flights of fancy. Not all fall so far short, however. There are a few gems if one looks for a haiku-like nature commentary. Perhaps the best of these is the quite lovely single stanza, "The wind / Speaks ...". What are we to make of the cinquains in Sand Dunes of the Great Lakes? One must take into account that the book was published in 1997, several years before the beginning of the renaissance of the American cinquain form around the turn of the century. The CinquainPoets forum dates from March 2001 and Amaze magazine from 2002. Before these took on revival of the form as a definite project, didactic cinquains had practically taken over the field. When this is considered, Edna Elfont must be considered to be somewhat ahead of most cinquain poets writing contemporaneously with her. The standards commonly understood at that time were no more than: five lines of 2-4-6-8-2 syllables. Standard poetic form textbooks today have not yet picked up on the cinquain revival and its newly developed standards and polystanzaic techniques. Edna Elfont’s polystanzaic cinquains are early examples; perhaps an innovation of her own. Taken on balance, the cinquains of Sand Dunes of the Great Lakes are really rather fine, in contrast with the didactic cinquains then in vogue, and the polystanzaic poems are daring in the context of the time. The haiku sensibility in a number of the cinquains certainly reflects the Crapseian intent to create an American form as an analogue of haiku and tanka. So, sensitive to the time context, I find Edna Elfont’s cinquains to be an important contribution to cinquain formalism; she is to be applauded for her accomplishments in this respect. Reviewed by Denis M. Garrison - February 7, 2005. www.dmgar.com
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