Wayne Mason - Bold Machines, Automation Man - Sweat Drenched Press - by Michael D. Grover
Wayne Mason has spent decades perfecting and sharpening his own style of Poetry. He has spent decades in factories supporting his family. If I had to compare his work to one Poet, if I had to box him in. His style is so unique I would go so far as to say McClure.
Unlike McClure himself this is not coming out of the universities. This is coming out of the American factory. I myself have spent many hours on a factory floor listening to the sounds of the machines combining and knowing it was like music or Poetry. Mason has captured this beautifully. In a World where there should be no Poetry. In a World where the other workers laugh at Poetry. Mason creates Poetry, and I know other factory workers that do, and that gives me hope.
As far as the McClure reference it is mostly the structure that reminds me of him. It is the Zen-like style, no anger, that takes you on a smooth tour of such an angry place. Mason pulls this off effortlessly. This chapbook is a quick and distant look into Mason’s World. Leaving the reader with nothing to do but to sit back and get lost in the flow.
The chapbook can be purchased here: