Some poetry is best left unsaid, and Allison Funk's fairly contemporary book certainly fits that description - at least when read aloud. The poems are good on paper, moving smoothly from one well-drawn image to the next, and often end with a few lines to think about.
Her words are few and precise, but well chosen to elicit the complexity of often confused emotion. She sets impressively vivid scenes, since every line contains both setting and sentiment.
But when Funk read her poems aloud Monday in the East Hall lounge, groans were almost drawn out from the crowd. This was due in large part to her minute-long explanations before each poem. She is frequently inspired by particular historical figures (Virginia Woolf and Harry Houdini, among others), so she understandably wanted to set the context, but in the process she gave away the poems' secrets, and their tantalizing images and subtexts.
During Monday's poetry reading, Funk selected works mostly from "The Knot Garden," (2002) her most recently published book from the Sheep Meadow Press. Besides writing poetry, Funk is also a professor of English at the Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.
