Commemorating the Mundane
Wiseman has openly stated that his poems are an attempt to commemorate an event. With that in mind, just a cursory flipping through the pages of a Wiseman collection will reveal titles showing that events need not be earth-shattering to deserve commemoration: “Tall Man in the Air Force Museum,” “The Four Silk Scarves I Bought,” and “When My Parents Danced the Tango.” Rather than drawing inspiration from those rare moments in life that others may consider worthy of commemorating along with him, Wiseman instead takes ordinary moments from life and through poetry transforms them into events worthy of commemoration.
Memory is Control
Along with the stimulation to commemorate events through preservation in poetic form, Wiseman also follows the dictum expressed by fellow poet Donald Justice that “to remember and event is to begin to control it.” His commemoration of the ordinary is therefore an act of control through a process of focused memory. This theme runs throughout his poetry in the form of most of his work being recollections of something which occurred in the past, but it attains a higher level in those poems in which he recalls a particularly emotional event which the passage of time has allowed him to control through a controlled precision of technique. By writing from memory, control extends from the emotional reaction to the construction of the verse.
A Welcome Mat and Open Doors
Wiseman’s poems put out a welcome sign to readers. His language is simple, his tone conversational, his topics accessible and his technique almost invisible. He writes about family member and the day Elvis died, strangers that he meets just once and Dracula, John Ford and Monument Valley and the secret life of washing appliances. His poetry leaves the door wide open with a comforting message on the welcome mat and the promise that once you come through that door he is not going to interfere with your ability to understand his verse by tripping you up with experimental or avant-garde hurdles. Wiseman is the kind of poet for people who hate poetry.
