<div class="page traditional" style=" background-color: #fff; "> <article> <header> <h1 style=" font-family: 'Crete Round'; color: #000;">Poetry on Vance </h1> <p class="byline">Paula de Villavicencio </p> </header> <div class="main"> <p class="summary" style=" color: #000;">A Review</p> <p><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The transience of life seems to escape us all in this fast-paced, industrial life we live in, but Vance Carter has captured the fleetingness, and encased moments in his poetry the way one does precious artifacts in glass cases. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The free verse form employed here is reminiscent of the reflections of the writer. The words fall the way they feel, slowly, deeply, and then all in a rush. His use of punctuation reads the poetry like a train of thought. These are not organized couplets with rhyme, these are personal experiences thrown on the paper with only emotion between the reader and the words. The reader has sat down at the cafeteria table, they have hailed the cab, and breathed in the smoke of the cigarettes. We may not have have touched this girl’s skin, but the story layered in the poetry is an echo to the reader, as you’re left wondering which moments you discarded in your hurry to move on to the next ones. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The feeling of connectedness that Carter creates is reinforced continuously by references to places and skylines all over the world. The particular and universal relationship of these moments isn’t missed. By relating these instances of great affect with different places of the world, Carter is insisting to the reader that while these were his personal thoughts and experiences, they happen everywhere, and to everyone. Where else has a couple become two separate islands?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Georgia;">What’s more, Vance Carter has not only encased these moments, he has encased the reader. By layering his moments between the past, present, and future, alarms are set off in the readers mind: time is passing, stop, appreciate this very instance. Appreciate the beautyof the industrial city around us. Love is not related to nature here as in classical romantic poetry, it is related to what many people see on a daily basis, buildings, asphalt, cabs, bars and thrift shop. Love is layered in the plain, extraordinary in the ordinary, and Vance Carter has captured all this in his words. </span></p> </div> </article> </div><!-- /page-->