Across the Universe
Mark W. Turner
Mountain Mist Productions, Australia
http://www.1stmist.com/MarkWTurner.htm
 

Author and poet Mark W Turner has discovered, after involving himself in Biology and Information Technology, that science and art are interchangeable. Words and phrases are as scientifically and mathematically beautiful as the sound and images that they create. A fractal graphic is so beautiful that it creates music in the brain of the viewer, while that fractal pattern is repeated over and over in nature, to be rediscovered at any odd moment when it creates new resonance. A tuning fork held up to the written word, the fractal pattern of biology, and the sounds of the universe resonates to a similar frequency.  Across the Universe demonstrates that all across that expanse lives art and beauty in all of its forms and equations.
 

One way in which a poet can express of this is to form patterns or images with the phrases of his poems. This can be done in a number of ways, ala Ferlinghetti, e.e. cummings, and many others. Mark Turner uses centering to good effect in many of his poems from the Across the Universe collection, particularly in the haiku selections.
 

One of the poems used to showcase the collection and one that I like very much is one entitled Coffee © 2006 Mark W. Turner:
 

A deep black liqueur warms a bone China cup
Smoky nut-like aromas mellowed with cream
Complement plates of anisette biscotti
Invigorating a drowsy intellect
Heavily laden from the digestion of a holiday meal
And lulled by the relaxed inflections
Of fragmented background conversation
 

I like the image of the China cup and the capitalization of China, bringing images of fine dinnerware, soft voices in the middle distance, fragrant spices, and the East. It reminds me of a poem I wrote about disappointment being a broken porcelain cup left in middle of the dirt road, once beautiful in hope and now ruined and discarded. However, Coffee is warm and pleasant and I would like to print and frame it and hang it on a wall. It is easy to be taken into that place of warmth, fine aromas, and the reassuring peripheral buzz of a refuge from the world.
 

The topics targeted by the Turner poetry in this collection run to nature and the environment. The include the tropical rain forest and its orchids, the vernal equinox, the acrostic Seashore, sea creatures, mountains, caves, deep pools,
 

In Words are four very powerful lines near mid-poem that describe the dual nature of words:
 

Like the Rock of Gibraltar
They stand proud and firm
Or like a scorpion’s tail
They twist and they turn
 

Words can be strong, profound, and sinister.
 

Other entries include poems about other seasons, about wine cellars, and the dark. One particular entry, on of my favorites, is about the universe, about a Galaxy:
 

Heavenly pinwheel
Affixed to the firmament
Great worlds from beyond
 

Spirit Buffalo reminds me of Native Americans and their related nations around the Arctic Circle, in Canada, and the American West. Reading it, I can hear the footfall of bison as the herd journeys off like a beating heart on the prairie. The Attic is another favorite, its words producing the smells and sights of an old upper room. Floating Market brings on the aromas and textures of the wares of the waterway grocery of Thailand.
 

The remainder of poems in this book speaks of phenomena encountered and appreciated on six continents, among cultures many of us will never enter. Readers can taste a sense of these things, however, through reading these poems. Some describe other times and an array of natural and mindful essences.
 

Across the Universe is a fine first poetry collection that will be enjoyed by many readers from the teens to seniors. The patterns of centeredness in the text speak to centeredness on many levels and in myriad settings. In addition, many of the entries are noted as type, e.g. Haiku, Nonet, etc. This encourages newer readers of poetry to delve into the structure and non-structure of different poetic styles. Mark W. Turner will no doubt present an abundance of high-quality poetry for our enjoyment and education in the future. 
Patty Inglish, MS
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