Fragmentation and Volta by Paul Ilechko is a carefully formulated book with a structure that is more architectural than conceptual. One part of the book (the fragmentation) is composed of sets of minimalist prose poems, all of which were inspired by a close reading of the works of the great British poet Ken Smith. Beginning with “… imagine a living creature turned to stone cold blood and raw meat enclosed in shells made of chitin”, the fragments traverse a spectral world of wilderness and near silence, before ending up where “…the train accelerated through the tunnel and crossed the international border slicing through the pressure of dead air”
The other half of the book (the volta) is composed of four crowns of modern sonnets, which address a wide range of topics including art, love and natural disasters. Working people appear “sprawled across the stubbled field pale as church light in the late afternoon”. Fires are burning “flames swelling like an ocean of narrative Cy Twombly flower-kissed in orange and red”. A natural disaster of epic proportions occurs, “leaving behind its predictable catastrophe fields of rotten items mud-soaked and stinking of despair”. But there is a light ahead, as “it’s evening in the city now time moves faster there the sky is a canvas for the towers to shine against.”
These two components, the hallucinatory prose fragments and the sonnets, are interwoven, braided together to form an intricate whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Stories collide, contrast, and grow in Paul Ilechko’s deeply intriguing and elegant new collection. Voices and questions, hopes and truths fight for their right to exist in an overloaded, tired universe as “streams of forgotten images that whipped by in fast succession as if blown by a wind of crackling static.” Yet, meaning is also found in this mélange of thoughts and stories we call life. “Lead me into a new day into that particular specificity of light,” the poet demands. We can all support one another that way if we follow Ilechko’s inspired instructions.
“I have nothing new to tell you nothing that is previously unheard” writes Paul Ilechko, in his wonderfully inventive book “Fragmentation and Volta.” And while that may be true (though debatable), Ilechko journeys through fractals of imagining, with a riveting push for revelation. I could say much about the craft in this book. How Ilechko uses caesura as fine-tuned as Merwin did, or how he’s accomplished poetry as Impressionism. But that would be a grave disservice. These pages make me feel alive, celebrated in my flawed humanity. They harness ghosts, confession, homage, “the stank of smoke and memories,” a stubborn hope.
This book wonderfully weaves memory, metaphor, and rich imagery into moments that act like a field guide to the unconscious. The poet explores loss and regret with language that’s tactile and a touch that’s universal. Here you'll also find jagged lives and landscapes, particularly in the prose “Fragments” sections of the book. These poems understand the balance in how “the failure / of a prior stage of life that haunts you now / deep inside your cells” can be transformed into beauty.
Meet the Author
Paul Ilechko is a British American poet and occasional songwriter. He was born in Barnsley in the north of England, and attended Royal Holloway College, University of London, for his Bachelor’s degree. He now lives with his partner in Lambertville, NJ. His work has appeared in many journals, including The Bennington Review, The Night Heron Barks, Southword, Stirring, and The Inflectionist Review. He has also published several chapbooks, including Pain Sections from Alien Buddha Press, and This Liquid World, an e-chap from Voice Luxe.
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