A Review of Bart Solarczyk’s TILTED WORLD (Low Ghost Press 2019) by Heidi Blakeslee

 Bart Solarczyk lives in Pittsburgh PA with his dog & cat. Over the past thirty-eight years he’s published poems in a variety of litmags & anthologies. His work has recently appeared in Big Hammer, Street Value, Live Nude Poems, Rasputin, Winedrunk Sidewalk, The Pittsburgh Book Review, River Dog & Roadside Raven Review. He is the author of nine chapbooks. Tilted World is his first full-length collection of poems.

When diving into this copy I thought, hmm, “Tilted World.”  Could he mean like, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?” Were bats indeed flying over the windshield?  Or perhaps just that everything in our society is askew?  After reading half the book in one go, I think it might be the former.  I don’t know.  Alcohol, poetry, and smoke have long been bedfellows, and frankly Solarczyk’s work makes me hope they stay that way.  

    Solarczyk’s poetry is a nod to Alice’s little white rabbit with alcohol standing in as the Jabberwocky. We follow him in and out of paisley rabbit holes.  While there, he shows us gritty and honest things.  He shows us quirky things, as in his poem about his daughter eating Lunchables, “My Strange Daughter.”

    Some of the poems are sparse, abrupt, and jarring.  Other poems delivered a depth of thought about the ugly side of life that I didn’t know I was craving.  Although some of the work is playful, there is a bleaker side to some of the lines.  Still, they satisfied the corner of my brain that longs for oddity and edginess. Solarczyk is very much a writing-man’s poet, dedicating a poem here or there to other prominent writer friends.

    His truths about how a body gets through life with the aid/horror of drink and how a mind gets through life with the balm/curiosity of cannabis play prominently throughout.  I enjoyed “Tilted World” because Solarczyk’s meticulous “real deal” writing captivated my interest right away and held it through the entire work.  I had no idea where I was going next and I loved that.

    If you’re in the mood for some imaginative lines from the gut, true poetry, give “Tilted World” a read.  You’ll be glad you did.

Tilted World

For every pair of mismatched socks

there’s a blind man happy to oblige

for every sock lost in the dryer

there’s a weary amputee

I walk in peace, I mean no harm

still the crow shits on my head

such exquisite balance

requires a tilted world.

Hear a review and reading by Bart in GAS video show #3.