The Common Cup
by Tom Conley
Trafford Publishing

book review by Omar Figueras

This is a collection of poetry that is deceptively light upon first glance, then revealed as deeply mysterious with each turning page. The author uses varied forms of poetry, from traditional rhyme schemes to experimental ones, and prose and narrative styles, even incorporating a lyrical essay into the assortment.

Aside from the powerful words and images the writer evokes throughout his book, the script and formatting of the text, from font size to gradations in shading, add to the themes and the artistry of the work. This playing with text form and placement on the page allows many of poems to take on concrete forms or shapes through the typographical placement of their words. In "Time," a poem about the fleeting nature and circular notion of time's passing is arranged on the page around the face of a clock, each of the poems sixty words representing a second, and its title marking each quarter-hour. "The Beggar" is a crafted lyrical essay written in the same font, but with different tones, furthering the theme of otherness, the "he and I" of the narrative voice at work. "The Church Christmas Play," a holiday-paired with existential reflection poem, is shaped to look like a Christmas tree, and its punctuating word is "Jesus." Each diagrammatic scripting invokes deeper imagery, emotion more profound than just the surface level. Deceptive as it seems, the works may be simple in order to match form, but that is hardly the case.

The author's introduction acknowledges his pastorate and priestly past, creating an assumption that the center of the book's themes will be entirely religious; however, in actuality, these types are few. The author's perspective and work are chiefly humanistic and celebratory of the potential good in humanity, yet always casting an eye on its eminent problems, personal and global: the commonality of the "cup of experience" from which we all imbibe.

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