Prolific Murfreesboro poet Gaylord Brewer turns his hand to short nonfiction in Before the Storm Takes It Away, his latest from Red Hen Press. While the structure of the 125 pieces here may project Brewer’s voice in a different light, Brewer’s fans and new readers alike will relish the opportunity to walk with the poet on his personal journey through the seasons of the year captured in this collection.
As it happens, the year chronicled in Before the Storm Takes It Away rises to its conclusion during the spring of 2020, amid the early ravages of shock, uncertainty, and grief created by the COVID-19 pandemic. While the publisher describes the collection as “the author’s pandemic book,” categorizing it primarily in that fashion might sell it short by a considerable distance. To leave no doubt about the beauty of the other elements Brewer offers, I’ll devote the space here to them, with an appreciative nod to the chilling authenticity and memories provoked by the pandemic pieces.
For sheer surprise and quirkiness, the pieces on cooking stand alone among the wide subject variety in this chronicle. They may inspire the reader (and indeed, this writer) to hasten to order a copy of Brewer’s earlier The Poet’s Guide to Food, Drink, and Desire for more of the same. I mean, who isn’t curious, even if mildly repulsed, by a recipe for Blood Loaf? The first ingredient is three cups of blood, suggested sources being duck, rabbit or pig. And then there’s the Goat’s Milk Caramel, this one a hymn to the soul-stirring process as much as the product that results. “This will be an hour of your life, its currency spent as well in this manner as most, better than many. The agency of the task, the transformation to a commodity of pleasure, a gift to be given.” But then the task is done, and “Oh, the rich reward… Forget everything you’ve tasted before.”