cover image Broken Symmetry

Broken Symmetry

David Citino. Ohio State University Press, $17.95 (102pp) ISBN 978-0-8142-0731-4

Disparate subjects capture Citino's interest in his newest collection (following The Disciple, 1992, and The Weight of the Heart, 1996) as he grapples with mutability, examines the practice of spitting or finds inspiration in the energy of hummingbirds. He writes with a moving directness about dealing with his symptoms, including cerebral atrophy, of multiple sclerosis: ""What are the odds in this struggle/ between what I'll never know/ and what I know or might discover/ but will come to forget?/ An endurance race, stroking/ through the Sea of Dementia."" Another section delves into external realities, considering fireflies and tomatoes, usually somewhat ploddingly: ""The lowly potato./ Incas told time/ by what it took to cook."" Meditations on coaches, tongues, sperm count and manually aiding pigs with intromission are marked by skillful use of language but a kind of surface attention. The poems are linked by their consistent voice, grounded in Citino's generally autobiographical stance and laced with his personal set of cultural references. The reader quickly comes to know that he is of Italian descent, has been brought up Catholic and educated by Jesuits and has a number of classical books in his library (Augustine, Herodotus, Pliny). In another of the four sections, poems based on the persona of a Sister Mary Appassionata offer irreverent views on sex and marriage. The range of Citino's interests and tone spark interest that the collection's lack of unity ultimately diffuses rather than concentrates. (May)