Each spark that ignites outrage seems unique in the immediacy of the moment, and yet F. R. Foksal, in his poetry collection, shows us that even in the most topical issues can be found a grain of universality. As a non-native English poet, he explores current themes not only through the prism of a wider context, but also through the precision of language.
The poems in The Indignation Parade navigate the topics of one’s vulnerability in the face of the passing time, refusal to accept the brutal side of reality, disconnection from the over-sensationalized world, as well as isolation even in the closest of relationships.
Foksal acknowledges, in this pained and incisive collection, that “hundreds of authors/ with millions of words/ have already described/ all shades of evil,” yet the author (most recently of the story collection Hour Between Late Night and Early Morning) still endeavors at—and succeeds at—expressing fresh truth, insight, and outrage about the horrors humanity visits upon humanity, as well as the ache of domestic isolation. Especially in its earliest pages, before the focus turns more personal, this volume’s poems live up to its title as Foksal contrasts, with penetrating indignation, everyday neighborhood scenes with the inevitability of violence: “Will the ceiling/ hold up when bombs/ start to fall?” asks “In the Cellar,” after offering a touching survey of a basement’s forgotten clutter. “A Silent Witness,” meanwhile, condemns the apathy of the sky itself, asking “who has seen more barbarity,/ more acts depraved, more/abuses of power”? Tellingly, it doesn’t occur to Foksal’s outraged narrator to blame a god, just the empty sky itself. Later, in “The Monochrome,” Foksal refers to clocks in towers (a frequent subject) as “those ungodly gods/ looking down/ on us,” decrying them as “lofty and detached.” Disquiet at the indifferent measuring and parceling of time powers several of these poems, and a mournful sense of isolation beats at the heart of many others, especially later in the collection.
There, Foksal writes movingly of failures of connection, even in established and intimate relationships, whether yearning for a chance touch. “Surface Tension” exemplifies the poet’s precision of language and command of deep, familiar feeling, recounting what it’s like to spot one’s reflection in surfaces like “the potbelly of a spoon” but then, devastatingly, not recognizing it “in the specters of her/ eyes.” The editor and founder of The Nonconformist, an English-language literary magazine in Poland, Foksal proves adept at striking verse of clarity and communicative power.
Takeaway: Pained, potent verse examining life and loneliness in an era of violence.
Great for fans of: Wojciech Bonowicz, Marzanna Bogumiła Kielar.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-
The poems in The Indignation Parade are lyrical and rich, addressing the complexity of human emotions on both personal and political scales.
F. R. Foksal’s extraordinary poetry collection The Indignation Parade explores timeless themes in precise and musical language.
Foksal, a Polish author and critic who writes in English, brings his outsider’s perspective to traditional English verse, and the poems in The Indignation Parade benefit from that perspective. Organized into two parts, “Indignation” and “Meditation,” the poems focus first on the horrors of war and political upheaval, and then on less violent tensions, like those in interpersonal relationships. They are resonant, making fresh connections between politics and intimacy.
This book arrives at a precise historical moment. Whether through intention, premonition, or accident, many of its poems speak to contemporary bombings and executions and to the disregard of warring governments for human life. As the poems accumulate, though, it becomes clear that war is a static state; many poems illustrate the boring predictability of war and the lack of imagination it requires. This emerges as a compelling theme: people are at war, people have always been at war, and people have been incapable of imagining any other way of resolving disputes.
This theme spills over into the second part of the book, where the occasions for the poems are more personal. A person’s lack of imagination or failure to embrace complexity can be at the root of gaps, failures, and conflicts in personal relationships, too. “The Monochrome” bemoans “the binary world and we / reduced to its binary rules, / the kingdom of gray shades / and hues.” The theme of a political conflict serving as a macrocosm for interpersonal conflict (and vice versa) is addressed in the “The End of the Day,” too, where “the collapse of the day / is no different, they say, from / the nation’s prompt fall.”
Carrying the weight of these themes, it’s no surprise that cynical, hopeless, barren, and even sarcastic tones appear in the poems. Still, these tones are relieved by the pleasures of poetic techniques, including skillful slant and exact rhymes, precise diction, and astonishing, layered imagery. There are elements of longing and nostalgia, including reminders that a present moment is the sonic relative of the previous one. This is accomplished through linking the words “fence,” “then,” and “impenetrable” in “A Slice of Surreality”: “a hole in the fence / through which you peeked / under the lining / of the world till then / impenetrable.” And in “The Cellar,” a “shy stain / on the wall” is followed by the worry, “will the ceiling / hold up when the bombs / start to fall,” creating an emotional link between the images of youth and memories of frightening experiences.
The poems in The Indignation Parade are lyrical and rich, addressing the complexity of human emotions on both personal and political scales.
Reviewed by Michele Sharpe
January 17, 2023
A volume of poems focuses on the state of the world.
Violence, war, time, and mortality are recurring themes in this collection by Foksal, a Polish author and the founder of the literary magazine The Nonconformist. “In the Cellar” describes the seemingly forgotten contents of the titular room. He analyzes different kinds of rain and their implications in “Ode to the Trenches,” imagining the sky as a silent witness to humanity’s barbarism. “In the Beginning Was the End” transports readers to a prison cell. The author rails against the hypocrisy of the rich in one poem and contemplates the ambiguity of good and evil in another. He mourns the death of subtlety and yearns to be free of “the binary world” and its rules. In “Surface Tension,” the speaker struggles to recognize his reflection in various objects and, later, himself in the eyes of a woman. He seeks yet fails to find a connection with his partner in several poems. He describes feeling like “a shuttered house / or an island long shunned / in an archipelago / of masterful misery” in one poem and like a “a barren receptacle” in another. Memories seem to inform many poems, such as a clock tower that once hovered ominously over the speaker’s family and the empty seashells of summers past. Foksal effectively uses alliteration in lines like “a shortcut / you used to take, / located somewhere / between a fatigued / façade and a bench / bare.” He brings inanimate objects to life with his evocative descriptions, including an old bicycle “limping on one wheel,” a pile of potatoes “huddling in the corner,” and a coin that “tap-dances” on a bar. He depicts emotions in novel and effective ways: “At times I feel / the phantom of fear gallop / through my veins, / tenebrous and tight.” The one flaw of this striking and moving volume is the lack of a human presence; there are thoughts and feelings but few flesh-and-blood people in these poems.
A poignant, impressive, and pessimistic collection of poetry.
The Indignation Parade and other Poems by F.R. Foksal is a beautifully done poetry collection. Foksal explores many themes throughout his work, including isolation, disconnection, and how one feels through the passage of time. His poems take a sort of gloomy outlook on these topics, but still do a fantastic job of conveying exactly how Foksal feels.I had a few favorite poems from this collection – the first titled, “A Shadow of a Doubt.” This poem used an exquisite metaphor, comparing the flame behind one’s eyes to a stuffed suitcase on a family vacation. Foksal elaborates by saying he cannot reach this flame, just like he cannot reach a suitcase in the backseat without letting go of the wheel and losing control. I thought this was such a clever and creative way to express how one may feel. The poem is short, and to the point, and no words are wasted in conveying the simple, but very profound message. Overall, I have to say this was my favorite poem of the collection, although, “The Words” was a close second.In the poem titled, “The Words,” Foksal explores the topic of evil. He begins by saying that evil and all its components have been described in a barrage of ways throughout time. Authors have explored evil’s shapes, types, and facades throughout history. However, he points out that all you have to do today to see evil is to pick up a newspaper, where “the ink is black like dried blood.” I loved this poem because I think Foksal truly hit the nail on the head. Once again, his poems are short and to the point, but lack no depth or message. In a time of polarity, injustice, and upheaval in our current state of politics and world affairs, Foksal encapsulates with ease how records of evil are accessible and almost normalized. I found this poem meaningful, inventive, and one that really stood out in his collection.Although I cannot speak for every poem in this review, I found the majority of Foksal’s poems to be very well-done and thoughtfully crafted. Admittedly, I am normally not one for pessimistic poetry, but I genuinely really enjoyed this collection. I really felt like I heard Foksal’s thoughts and feelings about the world’s often harsh reality, and I enjoyed navigating his themes through each unique poem in this collection. I think any reader who enjoys poetry or more profound reads would enjoy and really get something out of Foksal’s poetry.
