The Poetry of Jessy Randall Shows Us How to Laugh at Life

Suicide Hotline Hold Music, by Colorado Springs poet, Jessy Randall, is a quirky collection of poetry and poetry comics which present a comic outlook on some life’s realities that makes the reader want to slap her forehead and exclaim, “Why didn’t I see that?!” Randall’s poems take on thier own unique individual forms, which utilize rhythm and emphasis to the fullest, giving her works a conversational tone, like an old friend pointing out oddities. In “A Different Kind of Stupid”, which was first published in Asimov’s, Randall gives us a fresh analysis of a well-known fairytale.

A Different Kind of Stupid

Rapunzel never compared the weight

of the witch and the prince. How dumb,

if she did. No, she was pregnant,

that’s how the witch found out.

So, a different kind of stupid, up there

in her tower. You could argue

she loved him, and sure, she may have,

but he was the only man she’d ever met.

What kind of love is that?

The stupidest thing of all is how the prince

left her up there, day after day. Some might say

he knew what he was doing, never bringing a rope.

This collection of poetry makes complicated issues seem simple and manageable. The poems allow us to laugh at ourselves and at life, reminding us of times forgotten and left behind. Their innocent nature reminds us of the people we once were.

I give Suicide Hotline Hold Music 3 Quills.          

Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read and she never charges for them. Have a book you’d like reviewed? Contact Kaye at kayebooth(at)yahoo(dot)com.