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On the Downhill Side: The Collected Poems of William Hedrington

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William Hedrington was an American poet of great promise, but whose career was cut short along with his life in a car crash some thirty years ago on Halloween, 1971 outside of Syracuse, New York. He was just 23 years old. Now more than three decades later and under the ably editorship of Michael Smith (who also provides an informative and extensive introduction) Hedrington's memorable and impressive poetry is preserved and made available to a new generation of readers with On The Downhill Side. Speech: Let them come heavily, bull-boned men/who kill with many blows of a blunt stone/determinedly, because they do not understand:/these men can be yoked neck and neck,/their tongues are numb, they are not to be feared;/if ever they discover speech, their speech/will move with the tide by sun and moon./No, fear, but fear the efficiently thin,/the light and bright as aluminum,/the neon-tongued, who have teeth of movable type/and squawk from a nylon voice box/words that are to them as paper cups,/paper plates, plastic knives, plastic forks.

Here's the short synopsis. Hedrington was a fledgling poet. Some of his poems show true talent, some don't. He probably would have been a major force in modern poetry. However, the book is weighted down by a very self-conscious and wordy biography by Michael Smith, the editor. Smith is clearly intelligent, etc., but he attempts to add his own poetic vision of Hedrington's life. On several occasions I had to put the book down in disgust, unable to believe that Smith would attempt to slip his own silly metaphors into an otherwise factual account. I can only assume he was trying to fill up space to make up for the small example of Hedrington's work.