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Living Section of the San Bernardino SUN January 23, 2005 Issue 
Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z By Debra Weinstein Ballantine Books, 2004 
From
'Apprentice,' Poetry, Art and Artifice Once upon a time poetry writing was a manly passion. Once upon a time men wrote sonnets to woo a woman. The great romantic poets Shelley and Lord Byron were also famous as great lovers. Something strange has happened in modern times. Today the mere mention of poetry brings sneers to most people's lips. It is a well-known ploy of building up oneself by disparaging and belittling that which one doesn't know or understand. That may very well be the case with poetry also. Iambic pentameters, rhyming, sonnets and even haiku follow complex forms. One would think that free-form poetry would be easier to write and understand. But not so. Similes, metaphors, hyperbole, allusions - everything contemporary poets load into their tiny couplets accentuates the complexity of free form poetry to the point where it becomes incomprehensible even to poetry lovers. Outside the lyrics of Bob Dylan - the poet of the baby-boom generation - poetry appreciation is esoteric. Even poets like Leonard Cohen who wrote the famous song "Suzanne" have a meager following. The witty "Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z." by Debra Weinstein satirizes contemporary poets. The T. S. Eliot quote, "immature poets imitate; mature poets steal," introduces the book. This is the story of Annabelle, a 21-year old aspiring poet from Long Island. Her life changes dramatically when she receives a prestigious undergraduate fellowship to study poetry at a "world-famous private university in New York City." There the famous Flower Poet Z. becomes one of Annabelle's teachers as well as her employer. The mere idea of being the personal assistant to the poet Z. is intoxicating to Annabelle. "Z. was beautiful in a new York City sort of way," Annabelle tells us, "- black hair, black clothes, silver accessories, and a splash of red lipstick." Z. expects her assistant to dedicate herself selflessly and totally to the poet the way Vera Nabokov had devoted herself to her husband's writing. "You seem to be apprentice material," Z. tells Annabelle and elevates her to the position of an apprentice. Annabelle is delirious with joy. Although in awe of Z., she hopes the sheer proximity to poetic greatness would help her find an answer to the question, "what is poetry" - something that has plagued her since childhood. But instead of learning from the master, Annabelle is relegated to the position of a servant and an occasional secretary. She picks up Z.'s laundry, does her grocery shopping, prepares the hors d'oeuvres for the salon she is not allowed to attend, shops for a black cashmere turtleneck and silk boxer shorts - Z.'s birthday gifts to a lover, washes the dishes, types letters, picks ups prescription cat food for a cranky literary critic who makes and unmakes poets and does all the research for Z.'s next book of poetry. Annabelle takes it all with equanimity - the caprices, the selfishness, the snippety comments, even the theft of her ideas and words. Gradually, Annabelle begins to see Z. in a more realistic light. She begins to perceive that Z. has created her own seductive and mysterious persona; that beneath it is a rather prosaic person with very common beginnings as a poet; that Z. neither knows much about poetry nor has read or studied the great poets; that she is consumed with jealousy of the younger poets like the poetess Braun Brown and that Z.'s fame is a fluke based on the fact that her poetry is incomprehensible. The famed poet Z. is nothing more than a poseur. Weinstein portrays a farcical world of poetry populated with incompetent and egotistical poets who praise words like "coffee top, table top, telephone, toothpaste!" as good poetry. The book is also an indictment of a society bereft of genuine cultural knowledge and appreciation. The author seems to be telling us that any society, which sanctions the type of poetry demonstrated in the book, is a cultural desert. Weinstein herself is a poetess. She was awarded NYU's Bobst Literary Award for Emerging Writers for the publication of her book of poetry, "Rodent Angel." It would be interesting to read her poetry and compare it to the ridiculous poems in this book. It would also be interesting to know her real life poetry teachers because everything in the book strongly suggests, "Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z." to be based on personal experience. Ophelia Georgiev Roop Library Director San Bernardino Public Library |
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