Drumming in the Free World

First published in the “Briefly Reviewed” section of Frogpond 39:3, Autumn 2016, page 120.

Drumming in the Free World by Kim Redshaw (no date [2015], no publisher listed, [England]). 112 pages, 6×9 inches, perfectbound. ISBN 978-1-5141-2119-1. $10.95 on Amazon.

This book presents 35 meditations or instructions on the art of drumming on left-hand pages, with a corresponding poem on right-hand pages that consists of three stanzas in a 5-7-5 form followed by a concluding stanza in a 5-7-5-7-7 form. The words elide from one stanza to the next, making a 14-line kind of sonnet. All poems are syllabic in nature, and exhibit no understanding of haiku aesthetics. “And clear in the hub- / Bub of the world, the drummer / Plays the rhythm year” and so on.