A Chapbook About Nothing by Scott Cumming
Close to the Bone Publishing
Review by Joe Haward
4/5
There might well be a moment in history when the nostalgic longings of the cultural zeitgeist will peak, where irony will die as it looks in the mirror back upon itself, and reality will collapse. It will be a moment that fails to recognize the absurdity of our predicament, seeking instead to push relentlessly through the scattered remains of originality, pulling on every nostalgic mask to hide what we have become. Yet despite this, there will be those calling out, “re-examining the pillars” of culture, like wandering prophets in the wasteland, drawing people’s attention to reality’s curse and ridiculousness. In A Chapbook About Nothing, Scott Cumming is that voice.
This collection of forty-four poems mixes surgical wit, masterful reflections on popular culture, moments of darkness and pain, told through a deeply personal lens.
Cumming isn’t afraid of his own voice. I mean that in the most positive of ways. He has a great ability to tell a story, comfortable playing around with imagery and phrases, catching the reader’s attention, sometimes with a sly wink, and other times with a blaring horn.
It is a testament to Cumming’s talent, not only as a poet, but also as a storyteller, that on a turn of a page A Chapbook About Nothing can move you from the darkest reflections of the human psyche, to a nodding and knowing smile. There is layer, depth, and meaning throughout this collection as we move between drunken nights out, depression, Bob Dylan, and parenthood.
In these confessionals, Cumming is able to hold a lightness of touch, with poems like ‘A Universal Truth’, ‘I Understood the Assignment, I just didn’t do it’, and ‘The Lost Art of Air Guitar’. Full of humor and irreverence, one can imagine Cumming penning these with a wry smile on his face whilst eighties music blasts in the background.
There is pain in these pages too, reflections upon the inner and outer world that at times seep with a deep melancholy, authentically giving voice to the way things are. ‘No Name #6’, ‘You Can Slide Anytime’, and ‘Overtakes Me’ are examples of this pain, poems that slice into you with a familiarity of your own story whilst still compellingly idiosyncratic. Here Cumming may well have written these with a glass of whiskey and Dylan playing through the speakers. There is nothing self-absorbed here, however. Cumming crafts his poetry always with an eye on the human collective, recognizing the common threads of our experiences. This is why it is a chapbook about nothing and everything; the monotony and realities of life are both nothing and everything.
A Chapbook About Nothing is a wonderful collection by a writer of immense talent, and skillful touch. His ability to examine the world, with wit and darkness, is both delightful and sobering. Look out for Scott Cumming, he is a poet that people should be reading.