Fish Singing Foxes
is two books in one. Half of the book is an exploration of Gacelas, a
series of poems that Federico Garcia Lorca wrote with a then modern take
on Ghazals. Dancing Bear advances the form with ghazel-like leaps of
imagery and recurring themes. He uses the form to navigate a modern
world of consumerism, social apathy and over-hype. The rhythms and
repetitions draw the reader to join and lend their voice to the work.
The other half of the book, experiments with form by creating a new
series of poems that use a single line from a contemporary poet?s poem
to create a new poem. Once again, Dancing Bear displays a mastery of
words to which he can grow images using a single grafted branch while
also paying homage to the original poem and author, while maintaining a
level of gravitas coupled with whimsy. Throughout Fish Singing Foxes,
Dancing Bear injects a sharp sense of humor that knows both the borders
of playfulness and gallows? humor. He presents two very different forms
that reveal his revelry of language and image.