American Poet by Jeff Vande Zande (A Review by Brian Fanelli)

160 pages, $18

American Poet is a novel filled with scenes that are all too familiar to anyone involved in a local poetry community. Jeff Vande Zande successfully depicts awkward open mic nights, workshops, and competitive M.F.A. programs that sometimes breed more big egos than community, but by the conclusion of his book, he reminds readers how much of a communal force poetry can be and how it can revitalize struggling towns.

Set in Saginaw, Michigan, the novel centers around Denver Hoptner, a recent college grad struggling to find his place in the world after graduating with a B.F.A. in poetry. Early on in the novel, Hoptner floats from job interview to job interview, and one of the novel’s funniest scenes occurs when he interviews for a job as a bank teller. During the interview, the manager comments, “For a lot of people, that poetry stuff is going to be a head scratcher,” before adding, “It doesn’t even sound like a real degree.”

The manager’s comments follow an even more awkward moment when the protagonist explains to the employer how he took a course in scansion and then bumbles through an explanation of the term. Even Denver’s father, a former plant worker who knows a thing or two about hard work, once asked his son, “Poetry? What the hell kind of job you going to be able to get with a degree like that?” The father’s comments will hit home for any poet with an indifferent family, and they remind me of comments my own mother made when I told her I planned to obtain an M.F.A. in poetry. She immediately asked if there was any money in that.

Another humorous scene describes an open mic night gone wrong. Eager to build a stronger poetry scene in his community, Denver launches an open mic series. Set in a local coffee shop, the reading includes all types of characters, including a writer who insists on going by the name Coyote and howling after every poem. At one point, Denver comments, “The whole place was becoming a wildlife preserve before my eyes.”The writers also have to compete with noisy coffee machines in the background, and Denver’s time as an open mic host comes to an abrupt end after he scolds the coffee shop’s manager for using the espresso machine as a shy writer named Heywood takes the stage and attempts to share his poem.

The struggle to build a vibrant poetry scene in his hometown is not the only conflict Denver faces. He is constantly at odds with his father early in the novel, a widower who lost his wife to cancer. Throughout the first half of the novel, the reader may want to slap the young protagonist for not being more respectful and helpful to his father. This conflict is compounded by the struggle Denver has to maintain a relationship with his college ex named Heather, who enrolls in a graduate writing program, leaving Denver to feel like he is squandering his creative talent and is trapped in a town he does not want to live in. However, by the end of the novel, Heather points out some of the main gripes with M.F.A. programs, that they sometimes breed writers solely concerned with publishing and not studying the craft and learning poetic tradition.

As the novel progresses, however, Denver becomes far less self-absorbed and easier for the reader to tolerate as a character. He develops a relationship with Heywood, and it becomes clear that Denver’s open mic series provided Heywood the chance to share his work and befriend someone who cares about his poetry. He even confesses to Denver at one point that in his neighborhood, no one cares about poetry and you keep it to yourself.

Denver’s relationship with his father also evolves as the novel progresses, and after earning some money from a construction job, he takes his father out to watch a Tigers game at a local bar. The scene is one of the finest in the novel, as the protagonist finally shows his hardworking father the appreciation he deserves by treating him to beer and wings. It is also at that point that the reader really begins to see Denver mature and start to care about others.

Perhaps the protagonist’s most striking and endearing quality is his dedication to preserving the house of acclaimed poet and teacher Theodore Roethke. Denver’s passion for poetry enriches and emboldens the community. The reader can’t help but applaud the protagonist’s actions and the decision to stand up for something you believe in without backing down.

American Poet is a wonderful novel that stresses the need for more community and less competition among writers. Its protagonist, who spends the first half of the novel adrift, finally discovers his voice by the novel’s conclusion, with the help of a loving, working-class father who stood up for what was right and taught his son to do the same. For seasoned poets, the book offers relatable experiences, and for beginning poets, who, like Denver, may feel isolated at times, the book provides several important lessons and is ultimately a reminder that poetry can indeed be an important communal force.

Brian Fanelli’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Solstice Literary Magazine, Harpur Palate, The Portland Review, Rockhurst Review, Inkwell Journal, and elsewhere. He is the author of the chapbook Front Man, and his first full-length book of poems, tentatively titled What Remains, will be published in 2013 by Unbound Content. Brian has an M.F.A. from Wilkes University and currently teaches at Keystone College. Visit him at www.brianfanelli.com.