Thirteenth Tiger Press is a new poetry chapbook publishing outfit headed by Rowan-Legg. This collection is by the editor herself, and the presentation is beyond solid, it’s excellent. This collection is subtitled “The Film Noire Poems.” Most of the poems in this unique collection stem from the what if/do you think brand of poetry – with a twist. They are all cinematically enhanced. “Envy” and “Miss Lonely Hearts” too often rely on the film itself, become more name-dropping than anything else. “Rushed to save Barbara Starwyk, gently sucked the bullet out of her chest.” I like the poems that don’t include celebrity endorsement. When Rowan-Legg strays from this in “Why It Is Always Night” “Gotta Match” (“that sweet breeze/of your eyes and breath/ blows out my cigarette/dries out my gin”) I don’t even care what film the poem’s inspiration was drawn from – it lives on its own. Here she has more impact, and transposes the scene and the reader into a film splicer, making the reading process more enjoyable. The cover is a grainy film canister gray with black borders and on the back is a colour poster of the Maltese Falcon with Bogart holding a gun. However, the theme of this chapbook forces the writing to appear slightly constrained. Rowan-Legg definitely has power, I just think the idea behind this book stifles her over-all skill as a writer and hope to see some writing that isn’t distracted by the sound and flicker of the rolling credits. (NGM)
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