Nancy K. Pearson's Two Minutes of Light

While idly surfing the web, I came across this poem by Nancy K. Pearson, entitled, To the High School Prom Queen. When I read how the narrator addresses a former prom queen who is now behind bars, I knew I had to read the entire collection.

Pearson’s first book of poetry, Two Minutes of Light, was published by Perugia Press, a company that publishes only one book a year, a first or second collection by a female poet. Those are some slim odds, that one’s book would be picked up by Perugia, which is another reason I decided to order Pearson’s book. I figured she would have to be an excellent poet, if a company would put their whole year’s productivity into the publication of just one book, and had chosen hers.

Pearson explores some tough topics: self-mutilation, drug addiction, accidental death, suicide, and sexual abuse. But she explores the evolution of a person who emerges from pain and darkness, and who is able to bank on the beauty and love she finds in the world. The narrator pulls herself out of hell.

The poems seem to be written in a minor key. The words are simple, punched up with an occasional reference to the South, or to a name-brand regional store. The narrator pays attention to the natural world, which is observed because of, in spite of, or after suffering. If ever there was a book to inspire people to hang on, to embrace life rather than succumbing to despair, Two Minutes of Light is it. But Pearson conveys this message through the narrator’s slow climb out of hell, not by preaching or extolling any particular set of beliefs.

In an interview with Melora B. North from the Provincetown Banner, Pearson says that although the poems in Two Minutes of Light, ” are not autobiographical, they obviously mirror her life in many ways and are based on her not always pleasant observations and experiences.”

Again we have a poet who needs to make a disclaimer about her seemingly confessional poems. I understand Pearson’s need to clarify herself, given the assumptions many people make about poetry. Even if she uses the first person, the poet is reconstructing a past that no longer exists. A poet tries to remain faithful to the feelings, and uses whatever devices are available to her to recreate, to share, to allow the reader a glimpse of a different reality.

Pearson successfully creates a character who survives, and even goes on to thrive, because she feels an attraction to the raw beauty of the world, to the pleasures of living.

Published by Christine

Christine Swint’s poems have appeared in Calyx, Birmingham Poetry Review, Slant, a Journal of Poetry, Tampa Review, Heron Tree, Ekphrasis, and others. Her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best New Poets, and she has won first place prizes from the Georgia Poetry Society and Agnes Scott College. Her first collection, Swimming This, was published in 2015 by FutureCycle Press. She teaches first-year composition at a metro-Atlanta university and writes about poetry, art, hiking, and yoga at Balanced on the Edge, https://balancedonedge.blog Twitter @christine_swint

9 thoughts on “Nancy K. Pearson's Two Minutes of Light”

  1. Julie says:
    Reply

    Great review, Christine. Perhaps as interesting as the prom queen behind bars is the “minor key” you describe. I read the poem, and I was, like you, ready to devour the entire book. Excellent. Thanks for telling us about Pearson.

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  7. Nancy Pearons says:
    Reply

    Christine,

    Thank you for your moving review of my book, Two Minutes of Light.
    I agree, the disclaimer about my “confessional” poems is not needed.
    In an age where poetry is often mistaken for memoir, I was trying to be
    clear that every detail is not factual. It’s sad we have to do this because
    the poems are sincerely about my own experiences. Thank you for finding
    them worth reading.

    Best to you and others reading this site! Great place.

    Nancy K Pearson

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  8. christine says:
    Reply

    Nancy, I hope you don’t think I was being critical of you in my post. Now that I look back on it, I can see that I sound somewhat negative. I understand totally the need to clarify one’s approach or perspective, especially in a time when people go on talk shows and reveal graphic details ad infinitum, or when readers make assumptions.

    Poetry is neither fact nor fiction. It’s an opening into a dream world, a mythic world, a realm with a foot in many spaces at once.

    I’m honored that you would read my post and comment. We’ve been debating on the blogosphere about who the “I” in a poem really is.

    And in poetry, it’s true, we do mirror our lives, not always in precise details, but with the spirit of ourselves. You achieve this spirit beautifully.

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