Reviews by Various Readers

Review by Gary Blankenship

We are approaching a golden age of poetry, partially due to the Internet and partially because of the freedom poets feel they have to experiment with long established poems, producing truly revolutionary poetry. The explosion means, however, there are a great many fine poets who will never receive the attention they deserve. Dave Ruslander may be among those lost in the haystack, but not if I have anything to do with it. Dave is published in the winter 2006 edition of www.mindfirerenew.com .

Dave Ruslander suffers from Bipolar Disorder, which he has labeled the “black dog”. Voices in My Head allows us not only to get acquainted with Dave and his poetry, but with the disorder. From “ Rapacious ,” the first poem in the book:

Funny how the black dog glows
carrying his quarry.
When the game turns,
He will nip at our heels
and we will be the hunted.

These are intensely personal poems, which demand we pay attention to Dave's Voices and teach us about the disorders.

Dave lives in Virginia. His poetry is strong with natural images of the country around him. From “ Great Blue Cinquains ”:

Blue Heron
Focused statues
Silver rapids shoot fish
Down stream anglers anticipate
Dinner

Voices in My Head , is a full color publication. Dave's poems are married with great artists, such as David Philpott, Mia, Laryalee Fraser, the author and his wife, Barbara.

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Review by Carla Conley

David Ruslander's purpose in writing Voices In My Head was to give emotion a language, specifically emotion as magnified by an affective disorder. Each poem stands on its own, but through reading the work as a whole you may be able to see the cycle of bipolarity in a unique way.

In this book, Dave attempts to reach out to the “normal” world from a wild spin of shadow and light; his alternate reality. By means of poetry, he seeks to share the inchoate murmurs of an existence that is inexpressible by any other medium. The book is, then, a passport for a journey into otherness, a travel guide and a dictionary. By the end of the book, you may find your own face mirrored in its pages and you may find the voices in Dave's head have a word to say to you. That word would be triumph.'

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Review by Jill Chan of www.PoetrySZ.net

When I read a book of poems that I am not naturally inclined to pick up, when I feel a gradual awareness while reading, an opening up of the inner eye into the poet's world, which has for a moment become my own, I know it is a book I'll read again. I felt this book won me over; I stayed in the middle of a line, sat up and took notice.

For me, this is a book of attention, both attentive to the world around the poet, the world beyond him, and the inner sea he navigates.

Some of these poems offer a clear vision, the writing so clean, clear-cut, and polished.

In “Blue Ridge Mountains” he writes, “Vermillion fingers stroke the west face/as the sun melts into the horizon/and black falls out of the blue.”

I think the fact that the poet has bipolar disorder lends an added poignancy to the reading of these poems.

In “Rapacious”, he begins, “Funny how the black dog glows/carrying his quarry./ When the game turns,/ He will nip at our heels/ and we will be the hunted,//shooting blanks…”

The book is beautifully produced with eye-catching art accompanying the poems. Some of the artists include Mia, Teresa White, Don Schaeffer, Schar Freeman, Barbara Ruslander and the poet himself.

I think this is a quiet, reflective book to be picked up and read slowly. While reading, step back and l et your inner eye take over.

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Review by Teresa White

I've just read Dave Ruslander's volume of poems,”Voices in my Head.” I find I experience Dave's“deceptively simple” poems on a Zen-like level: poem after poem gracefully invites me into his bipolar world.

His poems allow me to enter his unique universe and better understand his vision. In his poem “Flickers,” I find this phrase, “tulle fog fills my brain,” and with just those few words, I am drawn in, captivated.

Dave's poems run the gamut of the bipolar cycle: from his “black dog” of depression to his expression of joy in his poem “Sweetboy” in which he describes an encounter with a horse he later buys.

The book is a full-color graphic marvel: Dave has carefully selected paintings and photographs and coupled them each in a most unique way to the poems themselves.

I consider myself richer for having experienced this lovely collection and I highly recommend it to all those who love poetry.

Teresa White is the author of, In What Furnace , published by Two Steps Publishing Co., and a Pushcart Nominee writes.

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Review by Terry Lowenstein

Long a fan of Dave Ruslander's work, I looked forward to the release of his chapbook, Voices in My Head . Now, book in hand, I find there are a number of things that make this collection stand out. First, the reason behind the book is best summed up by Dave's words: " Voices in My Head is dedicated to those who suffer in silence from mental illness." Dave has bipolar disorder and the work featured in his chapbook allows the reader a glimpse into a world of which many are not aware.

Additionally, the artwork donated by various artists for inclusion in this chapbook is praise worthy. The pieces selected work well with the words they seek to mirror. As the title implies, voices are the subject of this book, and the collection's poetry that follows is articulated well. The voices that rise from these pages include a number of pieces that bear the imprint of mythical inspiration, as evidenced in those verses that resurrect the voices of the past. In other selections, the vibrations of lost drums reverberate in the background, while shamans, talismans, and tribes long forgotten inhabit Ruslander's poetic lines.

Among my favorite pieces is Black Dog . Here are a few lines:


                                "Grassroots still live in drought
                                though life has been leached
                                from their blades.
                                Drunk from autumn rains,
                                they will toss their tassels
                                kissing neighbors"


The Clockworks is another piece that resonates, as exemplified in the following:


                                "Above a leafless canopy
                                vermillion-tinged clouds
                                offset the pewter swamp.
                                Guttural caws disturb
                                The whispering trees.
                                . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
                                Swamp time doesn't fit on my wrist."


Parched demands to be mentioned, as well. The heat of summer is vocalized with polished cadence:


                                "Smell the heat float over
                                as I simmer in midday sun
                                and await dueling scorpions
                                under night's sky"


Worth noting, too, is the poem It Could Have Been Euclid's 466th Problem . This is another striking example of a perfect fit of art with words. And what words they are— here again the lines are synchronized in such a way, they echo thoughts that must be verbalized. This is true, too, with The Persecution Complex and in Insanity . Listen to these lines, from the poem Insanity :


                                "A small piece of my mind discerns
                                the coming of its own demise.
                                Paramedic jackhammers
                                attempt to pry protective folds
                                but the strobe lights blare,
                                far too intense, as noise.
                                I watch casually, above the fray
                                at white-jacketed shamans
                                sticking voodoo pins
                                to rouse his collapsed veins."


Other favorites include Time is a Cerecloth, The Totality of Socially Transmitted Behavior (this piece is haunting) and Twilight . Add to your must-read list— Patience Pantoum , and find yourself in line with others as they wait their turn at the post office. But watch out, "the postal worker moves in a molasses vat."

You'll also enjoy Ariadne as it examines a mill, but this is no ordinary mill; read on. With poetic skill, the lines intone much more:


                                "The mill is hot
                                with the unique smell
                                of spun nylon.
                                A cobweb of bobbins
                                whirls into threaded eyes.
                                It is the third shift.
                                Women in hairnets
                                stand like spiders
                                waiting to catch butterflies"


Of course these are just a few samples from a collection that I highly recommend.

Ms. Lowenstein is a regular contributor to The Centrifugal Eye and you will be able to find her reviews in every issue.

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Review by Pris Campbell Ph.D.

My first impression of Dave Ruslander's book, Voices In My Head, grew out of its stunning presentation . Page follows page of artwork and graphics, nestled beneath Dave's poetry, all generously donated by artists who believed in this book from the outset.

Dave Ruslander lives with bipolar illness. He dedicates his book to the artists who contributed and to all people who suffer from various forms of mental illness. While many of his poems speak from his bipolar world, they certainly stand on their own feet poetically, as well. I found them to be moving, well written and a pleasure to read. As a Clinical Psychologist, I worked with individuals with bipolar disorders. In its most extreme form, you can plummet into the deepest depressions then rise to a high that can bring wild spending sprees, pressured speech, sleeplessness, and delusional thinking. Even though medication is available that helps level out these moods, it's by no means a perfect solution and the highs feel like such a relief , initially, that it's difficult to get the motivation go in for further help until the cycle is almost out of control. An extremely challenging illness to live with!

In one of his poems written from the point of view of his illness, I Stepped Back and Blew Out the Candle , Dave writes:

Darkness became my partner
and wrapped itself around me
in a difficult intimacy.

Further on, from Steam Around A Strait Jacket , comes the following excerpt:

Mumbles slip from my lips.
When the prick of a needle
finds my biceps, I will
go to black.

This book is clearly a creation of love and a willingness to bare one's psyche in hopes it will bring understanding and a sense of community to its readers. Read it. Recommend it to your friends. I enjoyed the book immensely.

Pris Campbell, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Published Poet

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