Mary Baldwin
Professor Castellarin
English 236
16 March 2010
Literary TNT:
The Poetry of Debbie Kirk
In the first few lines of Charles Bukowski’s poem so you want to be a writer? Bukowski says that “if it doesn’t come bursting out of you/in spite of everything, /don’t do it” (Bukowski). Debbie Kirk’s poetry follows this advice, each line a straightforward verbal jab. Many critics have mentioned Kirk in the same breathe as Bukowski. For example, John Bennet, the founder of vagabond press, even went so far as to say that “Bukowski didn’t have a crown, but if he did, if he had, Debbie Kirk is who should be wearing it, not all these limp-dick pretenders to the throne” (Bennett). That comparison seems to be the only one that can be made concerning Kirk’s work, as she is pushing boundaries with her art in a way that no other female poet does, even today. Kirk herself has said “I follow no particular school in writing and if I get labeled or pigeonholed in one I quickly get myself out. . .” (Kirk Interview). Still, her work effectively explores addiction, abuse, and the harsh truths of the human condition, which gives the comparison to Bukowski credence. Her work is characterized by her free form, brash language, pop culture references, and the attention she gives to the art of writing itself.
Kirk writes almost universally in free verse. Nonce form is the only venue that is appropriate for the defiant messages and direct language that hallmark her work. She relies heavily on the natural flow of language and the strength of her lines to impart her messages. The images and word choices she uses are so direct in their portrayal of the violence of reality that they seem almost dreamlike to the reader. In her poem, Behind me Now, there is a good example of this.
I stood on my sand pail
and tried to hang myself with the jump rope once,
but all I got was a scratched knee
and failure and sadness
that would stay with me forever (Kirk, Behind me Now 25)
Kirk manages in these few lines to paint a picture that is completely abhorrent, yet compelling to the average reader. The concept of a child feeling sorrow over a failed suicide attempt is merely one of many examples of this arresting language that marks Kirk’s work. Kirk uses this device to create urban epics that provoke a feeling of mythical significance in the reader using straightforward language. A powerful example of this is Kirk’s poem The Fucking Desert in which the persona of the poem takes a journey across a desert with the goal of homicide or salvation, or possibly both.
I was a traveler
Never a tourist
But the tourists rest stops
Were statistically more dangerous
Because of travelers like me,
The traveler I was in that van
With no fucking AC (Kirk, Underground Voices Magazine/Debbie Kirk 7)
This poem turns the minutia of a trip across the desert in a poorly equipped vehicle into the pilgrimage of a morally ambivalent character whose nonchalant references to hiding a body (Kirk, Underground Voices Magazine/Debbie Kirk 7) create an atmosphere of surrealism.
Each of Kirk’s poems takes form as either a confessional purge, or a plea to impart hard won wisdom to the masses. To do this she incorporates popular culture references to great effect. Whether those references are to popular figure, songs, as in USEd caRs (Kirk, Underground Voices Magazine/Debbie Kirk 6), or to television in general as in Kill Your Television or it Will. . . (Kirk, Underground Voices Magazine/Debbie Kirk 6) they give the reader something to sink their fingers into that gives the poem place and time. I am the skeleton of Burrough’s bullet mourns the violent death of the wife of William S. Burroughs, a famous writer saying,
And it still makes me sad that
Joan went out
The same goddamn way Eve did.
Nailed with an apple by a fruit. (Kirk, I Hit Like a Girl)
This poem also uses the death of Burrough’s wife and Burrough’s own sordid life as comparisons for the persona’s own existence. Kirk uses pop culture references to great effect, using them to flesh out deeper meanings while keeping the writing relevant to modern readers.
Another theme that Kirk addresses quite a lot is that of her own calling. Several of her poems directly attack the whole issue of what writing is, and what it is to be a poet in the small press. Even poems that are not totally dedicated to the art of writing often have mention of it, such as in Ain’t no cure for suicide where at the very end of the poem, the act of writing is mentioned, saying,
And every time I think of my calling
I cry
Because I sold out resurrection
And there ain’t no cure for suicide. (Kirk, Underground Voices/Debbie Kirk)
To Kirk the act of writing itself is exploring the brokenness in the world, and in oneself. In her work, The Obligatory Masturbation Poem, she states explains her views of poetry very succinctly.
What makes the poem beautiful
To me
Is its imperfection. (Kirk, Underground Voices Magazine/Debbie Kirk 5)
Truly, Kirk excels in cooking up a unique brand of beauty by writing about the imperfections she observes in herself and her surroundings. Not only does Kirk emphasize the beauty of writing being in its imperfections, she imparts a great amount of animism to writers in her work. Perfect examples of this are Subject matter of a love song I would write and I bit the mailman. In I bit the mailman Kirk explains the intricate relationship the small-press writer has with the mailman, saying that
If we evolve
surely we’ll be on all fours
Barking as soon as we see them
Walk into our territory (Kirk, Underground Voices Magazine/Debbie Kirk 6)
This introduces Kirk’s view of the poet as an elemental creature. This logic seems consistent as Kirks work seems to put forth that there is a lot of dirt that needs to be exposed, and that such imperfection can only be expressed by a creature (A poet) who can sink to that level and truly understand it. In Subject matter of a love song I would write, Kirk references “A morbid kinda intimacy/ Only capable by poets and animals.” (Kirk, Underground Voices Magazine/Debbie Kirk 7). This animalistic intimacy is what Kirk delivers in her poetry that imbues it with such power.
Though Kirk’s writing will never be understood by all readers, nor will it be universally palatable, she has built herself a reputation with her words. By using an anarchistic form, strong lines, relevant references, and daring word choices, Kirk continues to push people’s notions of what poetry should be. Kirk took Bukowski’s advice to heart, and as a writer she allows all those words, which come bursting out of her in spite of everything, to hit with page with a vengeance. Consequently, her poetry hits the reader just as hard.
Works Cited
Bennett, John. Debbie Kirk Hits Like A Girl - Interview by Billectric. 16 January 2005. February 2010 <http://www.studioeight.tv/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1849>.
Bukowski, Charles. so you want to be a writer? 2003. February 2010 <http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16549>.
Kirk, Debbie. “Behind me Now.” Powell, C. Underground Voices: Stories from the Asylum. Lincoln: iUniverse, 3007. 24-25.
Kirk, Debbie. “I am the skeleton of Burrough’s bullet.” Kirk, Debbie. I Hit Like a Girl. UK: Feel Free Press, 2004.
—. Underground Voices Magazine/Debbie Kirk 5. 2004. January 2010 <http://www.undergroundvoices.com/UVKirk5.htm>.
—. “Underground Voices Magazine/Debbie Kirk 6.” 2005. Underground Voices Magazine. January 2010 <http://www.undergroundvoices.com/UVKirk6.htm>.
—. “Underground Voices Magazine/Debbie Kirk 7.” 2005. Underground Voices Magazine. January 2010 <http://www.undergroundvoices.com/UVKirk7.htm>.
—. Underground Voices/Debbie Kirk. 2007. January 2010 <http://www.undergroundvoices.com/UVKirkDebbie.htm>.
Kirk, Debbie. Mary Baldwin’s Interview With Debbie Kirk Mary Anne Baldwin. 16 February 2010.
