In Order to Form a More Perfect Union

“. . . a strong collection by a talented poet.”

“In the end there will be one single murmur from our
children on the great issues: race, sex, philology.”
— T. J. Beitelman

This is it, the essence of T. J. Beitelman’s narrative. That we—as we are now—are a fading breed.

In a very short time all the divisions that are pursued so relentlessly by the small minded, by the bigot, by the zealot, will become as a memory of winter confinement. Gone will be the bowing and scraping to conventional wisdom, gone too the rule of us vs. them, the bigotry of religion and patriotism.

In this fine collection Mr. Beitelman appears to challenge the status quo, and to point the way to a brighter future for us all. His is a world where all are equal under the sun, where the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts, and where accepted patterns of thought, and of society, are rich pickings indeed.

Carefully structured, this collection opens with a set of Aubades; gentle songs to the dawn, recognition of the continual progress from darkness toward the light:

Make Me Like Galileo,

make me a plodder,
an empirical

observer, a man who spends
each day—day

after day—tracking blotches
on a magnified sun.

And when I’m called
before Your tribunal

I promise to capitulate,
I will, on bended knee,

feebly renounce all
things I know to be true:

No, there are not storms on the sun.
The perfect hot orb spins around Us.

Here, Mr. Beitelman clearly maps out his view of the journey of humankind. By calling up the ghost of the renowned astronomer he pokes fun at the very notion that all truth exists in what we know now. How ironic that what was once regarded as inalienable, is now seen to be no more than a delusion of grandeur.

And Mr. Beitelman is not afraid to turn this worldview upon his own home and society:
...
This is America
I say to no one
In particular

This is God’s favor—
We the proud
We the full lipped

We the beautiful
And no one in particular
Answers back

Here the full-blooded patriotism of vast sections of U.S. society, the ideology drummed into us across years and across generations, is gently mocked for being a loud noise in a small room.

This is a strong collection by a talented poet. His view of his world is clear, and he is not afraid to make his opinions known. The collection is well structured and gives the reader no option but to follow a predetermined path to enlightenment.

The poems are full of the stuff that, in isolation, make for a fitting pastiche of contemporary American culture; however, when you step back and look at the whole, at the fullness of the image Mr. Beitelman has created, it is certainly not a celebration of what has gone before.

Rather, this collection seems to exist to perform the task hinted at by its title: here are the areas upon which we must focus In Order to Form a More Perfect Union—a more perfect union of people, ideas, and values.

T. J. Beitelman has done a wonderful job fulfilling that role demanded of the poet, the artist, and the thinker. In this collection he identifies the areas requiring attention and prompts us to confront them, to find a way into the future for ourselves and for those that follow.