Jewel Scratches Surface With First Volume Of Poetry
05/17/98
SonicNet Daily Music News Reports: Jewel the songwriter. Jewel the
singer. Jewel the guitarist. Jewel the actress...
Now, meet Jewel the poet.
She already has conquered the music world with her seven-times platinum
debut, Pieces of You, and segued into an acting career with the role of
Dorothy in a production of "The Wizard of Oz" and a movie development
deal. Now, singer/songwriter Jewel has decided to follow in the
footsteps of such trailblazing singers/poets as the late Jim Morrison of
the Doors and Patti Smith with the release of a book of poetry, "A Night
Without Armor," which hits shelves Tuesday.
The 23-year-old singer writes in the book's preface that
she has learned that "not all poetry lends itself to music." As proof,
she has put together a 160-page book of poems and journal entries that
she's kept since childhood.
But what do published poets and experts in the field think of her work?
"The relationship of music to poetry is one that is long, honorable and
complicated," according to Don Share, published poet and poetry editor
of the literary journal Partisan Review. "Anyone can imagine how a
musical impulse grows into words, while setting highly esteemed verses
to music has always been a natural tribute."
Share, 41, a winner of the P.E.N./New England Discovery Award, said the
history of rock and poetry has been a difficult one, with such renowned
musicians as late Beatles leader John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and
Henry Rollins attempting to make the crossover with "mixed results."
Few, if any, of their poems have ended up in poetry anthologies of note.
Despite his assertion that people often turn to poetry and music for
different reasons, Share said he was able to find a kinship between
Jewel's poems and the work of established poets such as Ntozake Shange
("for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is
enuf"). "Both [Ntozake Shange's] and Jewel's [poems] resonate with the
need for and need to maintain distance from men," Share said.
In the manner of her songs such as "Who Will Save Your Soul?"
(RealAudio excerpt), Jewel's poems paint the singer as an artist whose
thoughts and lyrics are full of wide-eyed wonder and youthful,
heart-on-sleeve sentiment. That's one of the reasons that Stephen Young,
senior editor of Chicago-based Poetry magazine, said he was unimpressed
with her poems.
"Like most efforts of their kind," Young said, "these have a clumsy, but
heartfelt honesty, so it would be cruel to dismiss them entirely. Yet
without the force of Jewel's singing voice, the sentiments offered here
lose all of their immediate power." Young added that the only reason he
might be interested in the "routine, journal-entry expressions of
adolescent angst and teen insecurity" found in a sampling of the poems
was precisely because he was a fan of Jewel's music.
Couplets such as "As a child I walked/ with noisy fingers/ along the
hemline/ of so many meadows/ back home" (from "As A Child I Walked")
"remind me of one reason that personal diaries are often sold with a
lock and key," Young said.
A representative for the volume's publisher, HarperCollins, said the
company saw the book of Jewel's poetry as a way to inspire reading and
writing in fans. "What I've learned from working here and surveying the
many unofficial Jewel websites is that one way Jewel communicates with
her fans is through poetry," said Sherri Rifkin, associate director of
online marketing for HarperCollins.
Rifkin cited the inclusion of the singer's poetry in her album's liner
notes as being a natural bridge to a volume of unpublished poetry. Fans
read Jewel's poems online and they are inspired to write their own,
Rifkin explained. "Any way poetry and literature can be promoted,
especially to young people, we're all for [that]."
Rifkin added that HarperCollins is promoting an online poetry contest --
to be judged by published poets -- featuring a $500 first prize that
will be matched by Jewel with a donation to the singer's charity of
choice.
Calling Jewel's poems less technically proficient than the contemporary
verse of Jorie Graham and less political than that of Carolyn Forche,
Share said that the singer's work "reads mostly like internal monologue
worked up from diary entries."
"It also is less questioning," Share said, citing such lines as "I miss
your touch/ all taciturn/ like the slow migration of birds/ nesting
momentarily/ upon my breast/ then lifting" from "I Miss Your Touch" as
being beautiful in their own right.
"Perhaps it's refreshing that Jewel doesn't bother to imitate [famous
poets Emily] Dickinson and/or [Sylvia] Plath," Share said, "as
frequently occurs among some budding poets.
Questions? Comments?
Pieces of Jewel
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