The Very Stuff
Posted by Lanea on Wednesday, January 31st, 2007
The Very Stuff: Poems on Color, Thread, and the Habits of Women by Stephen Beal
Damn it, I wanted this book to be good. It’s not.
It’s twee. It’s precious. And most of the poetry between the covers is doggerel. I should have known by the concept–Beal used the colors of DMC embroidery floss as a stand-in for a Muse. I hope Calliope and the girls don’t hunt the poor guy down–I’m sure he meant well.
I’m sure Mr. Beal is a fantastic embroiderer, but he’s not so much of a poet. To quote that old meanie Truman Capote, whom I love: "That’s not writing. That’s typing."
Filed in Books | 2 responses so far
Sheilaon 03 Feb 2007 at 9:55 am 1I surfed on over from Deb’s website, Chappy’s Mom, and found your post about Stephen Beal’s book of poetry. I saw him at an exhibit doing a poetry reading. He was at an exhibit of French fiber artists in New York. The exhibit featured DMC floss and was excellent. The fiber artists were all first class and excelled in their varied areas. Stephen Beal was the featured speaker. I have to say he read his poetry with passion and it was funny. I forget which poem he read, something about the color red. Which that should tell you something about the quality of the poetry that I can’t remember which poem it was that he read. Anyways, I agree the rest of the book was a little precious. It’s funny how his book came up. I haven’t looked at that book of poetry in years.
Kristaon 27 Sep 2012 at 4:57 pm 2I guess “precious” is a bad thing. I was thrilled when I first purchased the book, probably in 1995, and came to this website as I was searching to buy it again. I loaned it to a friend and it didn’t come back–I’m heartbroken and have vowed once again to never lend a book.
Anyway, so sorry you don’t like the poetry–it is perfectly magical to me.