Jake Kennedy

Light and Char a poetic chapbook written by Jake Kennedy, shows a strong sense of character. The chapbook comes across as simple and sleek with a light cream coloured hue to its cover and the title written in the style of traditional calligraphy from medieval Gothic origin in what appears to be the use of a quill and gold ink. The maker of the chapbook, Greenhouse Press located in Vernon, BC, took great care in the work and making of the final product. The cover of the chapbook, was made separately and hides the sewn spine of the binding from the outside by folding the chapbook into a separate piece of paper glued to the front and back of the blank cover pages, giving the chapbook an overall professional quality and persona.

The chapbook is held together with beeswax string sewn in three symmetrical points of the spine and follows the light coloured scheme of the chapbook with the use of a white coloured string. The contrast in the title of the chapbook Light and Char, appears within the context of the written work. As the chapbook appears to be “light” and airy, the words on the page reflect a darker and messier version in contrast to the cover of the chapbook. Kennedy writes “‘The goblin fucked me and then I fucked the goblin’” on page 20, in “ON JUSTICE (ROOMS)” and furthermore on page 12, “ON DIFFERENCE (KNOTS)”. Kennedy’s work alludes the circle of life in nature’s design between life and death when mentioning the relationship between mother and son, “and when the mother saws the rope from the son’s neck then knife, neck, and rope are also past, present, and future once the knife breathed in and out, the rope cut itself, and the throat tied its own noose.” This allusion provided expresses something much deeper within the artwork as well as the humanity of the reader them self, bringing to question if the darkness is in fact charcoal, foreshadowed in the title. As charcoal gives off the appearance of something strong and clean, there is a messy truth which crumbles and stains the pages in front of me in the form of words and allusive concepts. This may be itself a reference to humanity, as the deeper you wander, the darker the stories, insecurities, and rage. Pretty words can reveal ugly truths, as can a lovely cover enclose dark thoughts.

The chapbook gives off an air of mystery behind its cover and within the rough textured parchment of its pages. Its expressiveness is a puzzling artistic form I can’t help but wonder if its purpose was to be so all along. Darker hints into the char of the chapbook reveal themselves in the everyday activities of individuals, asking “Yet on the cutting board, couldn’t the chopped potatoes be skull” on page 9, “ON SECRETS (PAPER)”. The words themselves correspond to a greater abstract image of the chapbook and even deeper within to find what is not a subjectively provided truth, but beyond the veil of what can be perceived as light and dark. As “Light and Char.”… (más)