M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A by A. Van Jordan

M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A is the first volume of poetry I’ve encountered that is a fully developed, definite narrative (albeit not in a standard narrative form). Form is of enormous importance in this book, both on the macroscopic level (the book as a whole) and the more narrow level (each individual poem).

MA-C-N-O-L-I-A contains some formal elements that make sense given the subject matter and some that are seemingly counterintuitive. For instance, the work is divided into four sections that punctuate the volume quantitatively like the way a speller dissects a word letter by letter. It also contains poems that are quite formal with the sestina being a prime example. The methodical, highly structured form models the clinical nature of a spelling bee (and in case you’re not familiar with the spelling bee format, they have A LOT of rules). An important formal element on the macro scale is the nonlinear narrative. The story is told out of chronological order with the speakers changing several times. This reveals to us the disorder in MacNolia’s state of being and emotional condition after she was cheated out of the Spelling Bee. That a girl of such intelligence, work ethic, and high ambitions can end up as a “damn good maid” is sad and shows us the enormous emotional impact her loss had. The narrative’s structural disarray closely resembles the drastic turn that MacNolia’s life had.

Some counter-intuitive elements are the number of statements that, from a strictly logical standpoint, don’t make sense. Here’s one that pretty much sums it up: “And when the silence gets too loud,” which is from “When MacNolia Greases My Hair.” Another: “in the dark's light,” is from “Wedding Night.” These only add to the diversity of poetry in this work though. MA-C-N-O-L-I-A is characterized by its sheer unpredictability and the nonlinear narrative, four sections, contradictions, and variety of poetic forms only augment that unpredictability.