Jen Benka

Pinko by Jennifer Benka is a collection of poems with an antiwar and progressive social message. Benka is the executive director of the Academy of American Poets. She holds a BA in Journalism from Marquette University, an MFA in Creative Writing-Poetry from The New School and has been active in social change programs.

This is one of those books that if one does not the poet the cover will surely draw you in. It seems to make a statement along with her poems. Gracing the cover is her old driver’s license from Wisconsin complete with her date of birth, height, weight, hair and eyes. Laying over the top is a government document with blacked out information. Seems to speak of today’s society where everything about the individual is known and what the government is doing is not.

“Flower, Flower” examines the war mentality over fifty years and offers those “truths” that we accept to make us feel better. Failures lack religion or were raised by single parents or one of many other reasons. Poverty exists because Jesus said we will always have the poor -- So why do anything poverty will always exist. To quote Roger Water’s “God wants poverty.” Benka follows:

It is possible we will not allow lies to accumulate truth. It is possible that we will
vote for the candidate who will kill the fewest people.

In the second section, Benka uses the international phonetic alphabet to create twenty-six themed poems. Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and then Dixie instead of Delta. That was the only mistake in the phonetic alphabet. Why? Checking the notes, Dixie is a poem constructed using pieces of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. It’s not a stretch to link the support to the South (Dixie) and the biblical definition of marriage. What I thought was a mistake turns out to be supported. The poems in this section are well done and several drift out of free verse and into meter and rhyme. Gulf is perfectly written. Foxtrot plays on World War I. Papa borrows from Marx. A very well-done selection.

Section three is only five poems that the titles reflect on the between of things -- mainland and island or the land between two rivers (Bagdad and Iraq’s constitution). The collection closes with two poems one on AIDS and the other the title poem “Pinko”. A great collection of poems with a social message that is not forced into poetry, but rather fits in nicely with it.

… (altro)

A Box of Longing with 50 Drawers: A Revisioning of the Preamble to the Constitution
by Jen Benka is a series of poems that use each word from the Preamble of the Constitution to trigger a poem about America’s promise and failure. Benka is the executive director of the Academy of American Poets. She holds a BA in Journalism from Marquette University, an MFA in Creative Writing-Poetry from The New School and has been active in social change programs.

Taking the foundation of our country and the government created by the people, Benka breaks down the words of the preamble of the constitution into fifty-two poems. The poems share a connection but can be read as stand-alone poems also. Like a bow with fifty-two drawers, they are separate containers inside a larger container -- much like a chest of drawers.

There is history in the writing from the founding of the country with its promise of freedom, but allowing slavery. The battle to remain in the union and current visions of the country are included. Some of the poems are short:

United

To stand alone together.



But still, pack a punch especially in the context of the book. Others are longer but equally potent. The third “And” poem displays the trap people fall into for idealized, but not perfect, youth in exploitation and regret. “The” appears seven times in the Preamble and Benke does have a little trouble with the word as she progresses. The sixth “The”

Definite article determines thinglyness

Perhaps a bit of frustration at the repetitiveness of the word, like the repetitiveness of the same problems plaguing society over and over again. But to there is hope and promise:

Tranquility

Where the language meets silence
Slow on the sleepy page
And love and love and love
Hushes into dreaming.

A well-done collection of interlocking poems reflecting on the very foundation of America. History and promise of the future interlock and praise and criticism walk hand in hand. An honest look at America with a message.… (altro)