SOMEDAY THE PLAN OF A TOWN :: Todd Boss

Following the loss of a 20-year marriage and strained relationships with his children, poet Todd Boss sold all he owned and gave up his Minneapolis apartment ("only half-facetiously writing "Trump" on the "Reason for leaving" line of the Lease Cancellation form). In that grief-stricken state, he traveled the world for two years utilizing a series of thirty housesitting gigs. In each location, he wrote. This collection of poems is a result of that trip, reflecting Todd's emotional difficulties permeated with the essence of the different locations he visited.

This fascinatingly unique premise, along with superb cover art (which I initially thought was shipping containers and which would have been no less attractive) were all I needed to dive into the collection. It began by sucking me in with Boss's notes on his approach to the book, which was an important foundation to understanding his views.

I was also drawn in by his summary of the saga, as he was "alternately inhabiting thatched-roof farm-houses, hillside estates, urban apartments, and lush gardens in Berlin, Barcelona, Marrakesh, Singapore, Auckland. Housesitting gigs often came complete with pets or livestock for which I was responsible. I tended sheep from a stone cabin in the Pyrenees. I minded two sleepy cats in a Tuscan villa, a coop full of unruly chickens in London, and a playful puppy on the Gold Coast of Australia."

There were some incredibly lovely moments within the collection. I especially loved the titular piece, a lyrical run-on about finding your place in the world, a dream for everyone who just doesn't feel quite right where they lay their head:

Someday the Plan of a Town--right down to its sidetracks and back alleyways--will match--or so goes the dream--with some identical patch of neural network your rogue thoughts roam in--overlay it like those musculoskeletal transparencies with which anatomy textbooks come bound--and you'll be at home in its dogleg jointwork of cobbled kinks--and your body will resound at every fork, tuning-fork-like--and every road you ever rambled will be re-scrambled to appear to have brought you here, where you fit so perfectly... (Tarifa, Andalucia, Spain)

From my perspective, the most engaging pieces described the essence of Boss's particular surroundings, taking the reader along on some portion of his trek. From Workmen Discarding a Parquet Floor, Vienna:

It's a four-handed band performing the complete works of Beethoven using only wooden castanets in incomplete sets. What once a woman danced across. What once in a sash of sun the cat snoozed afternoons upon. Un-glued, un-patterned, going, gone.

And this, from Why Empty Barber Shops Draw Me, I Don't Know:

...we want to talk when we want to talk & we want sometimes instead to sit quietly while someone touches us all about the head with the edges of a scissoring scissor & the neat teeth of a comb. Small comfort, but lucky for us, the wealthy as well as the poor, that there are a few things left in this old world we still need other people for. (Baltimore, Maryland, USA)

There are also moments that are beautifully-worded knife cuts that reflect Boss's current state. From He Divides his Time Between:

I had a married life before, in a subdivision of peace and war. In equal thirds my loved ones ate my heart like a festival roast.Now my father's son is a ghost, a wisp of smoke, a metaphor.He divides his time between nothing and much and matters and anymore. (Greenville, South Carolina, USA)

Then there were the pieces that came from what felt like a very dark place. I won't say these works ruined the collection for me, but they somehow tinged those lyrics I enjoyed with their perceived venom. For example:

Fairer The claw marks in my neck long faded, the steam of hate evaporated, attempted identity theft subverted, assets, passwords, passport converted, accusations of assault reversed, two years' court fees reimbursed, restraining orders at last elapsed, libelous campaigns collapsed, attempts to turn my friendships rotten and threats of murder and vengeance forgotten, I'm finally ready--whatever comes next--to reengage the fairer sex.

And, in Men, Then, Maybe, as Boss wonders if he couldn't love or touch a man just as generously as he has women:

Men aren't faultless, oh, I know. Now and then a prick, okay, but let's just say the "fairer" blooms I've picked so far, though lovely, are no prick-less clutch. So, men, then. Maybe. Huh. The hot mechanics may yet be a mystery, but at least I know the parts already. (Auckland, New Zealand)

This last bit, in a vacuum, I actually love. We can all be pricks, and why are love and touch any different depending on the "mechanics?" But when taken on the heels of the Fairer, it felt more vengeful, a little "fuck women"-ish. Which Boss may be entitled to, and the hurt and disappointment are bound to come out in the words of a poet. I'm not sure why these two hit me wrong. They don't strike me as much now as I reread them as they did initially. Perhaps because we know which woman they are directed at they feel viciously one-sided when we don't know the facts.

Overall I enjoyed this collection, but mostly so when Boss fell into the first two categories. I love a good evisceration poem, poems of honest hurt and devastation. When they delve into real personal intimate lives, I'm more likely to feel the judgment than the camaraderie.

I enjoyed reading this poetry book. This is a great collection of poems by and author that has enjoyed travelling the world. Writing a poem for each location. I really enjoyed the first part of the book. Although it was not my preferred style of poetry it still held my attention and I appreciated the words. As poetry is unique to each individual I always suggest trying a digital sample of the book fist to see if it works for you. As every authors style is just as different as our own tastes. You could tell the author was Writing with a real passion.  You could also feel that atmosphere in his words from each country he visited. I played a game while reading this book, trying to guess which country the poet was in before I found out. I actually got a few right. Most of these poems read like short prose snippets of places visited in a very modern style. I just have to mention how much I loved the cover of this book it really drew me in.
Many thanks to the author and publishers for creating a wonderful travel journey through poetry. 
The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/someday-the-plan-of-a-town-by-todd-boss-w-w-norton-3-stars
Under my name or ladyreading365 or lady Reading365

I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC.

I don’t typically read poetry, but this caught my eye. I liked the modern poetry in this. However I didn’t really resonate with the poems as much as I wanted. But this will definitely be someone else’s cup of tea.

Someday the Plan of a Town by Todd Boss was an interesting collection of poems. I felt the nomadic lifestyle seeped out through many of the poems. I don't always like free style poems, but I enjoyed the majority of these. I appreciated there was a mix of free style and traditional. My favourite was The Mind Will Wander. I also enjoyed The One About the Taxi. It lends itself so much to how it feels to soak everything up in a (new) city. Workmen Discarding a Parquet Floor, Vienna felt like a poem I have lived. Just a fun collection of poems if you have some wanderlust feeling. 4.5 Stars.

I received an eARC from W. W. Norton & Company through NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.

Slowly and sporadically, I’ve been dabbling with reading poetry. I’m not organically a modern poetry fan, I find it too freestyled and unrhymed for my liking, too abstract somehow. But this one worked surprisingly well. Surprisingly so. Such a pleasant surprise.
My selections tend to be quite random – here the main attractor was the story behind the collection, which goes something like this…a few years ago the author left his life (including an apartment, an acrimonious divorce and estranged children) behind and set off to housesit his way across the world. The housesitting gigs were unpaid, but they allowed for a free stay, which is an interesting and original way to travel. And thus, these poems of an unmoored and untethered soul hail from various (distant and otherwise) locales.
I kind of figured/hoped for more of a travelogue via poems but guess it’s true what they say – wherever you go, there you are. And so, these poems don’t actually have so much to do with physical geography mostly the mental one. The places of loneliness and anger and sudden beauty the author finds himself in. But each one has such a distinct rhythm (and yes, rhymes too), because each one has such a distinct message and mood, they were easy to connect with and enjoy. So there, the cover appeal totally paid off, though it features entirely too many suitcases, for the author said he had only made do with a couple. Very good. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

I had this collection of poetry on my NetGalley WishList and suddenly my wish was granted - a nice surprise, given that I had not really thought much about the book until then.

So, Boss gives up his life and spends a good amount of time travelling the world - and writing poetry as he goes. The collection is quite short - but certainly varied. In 'Nine Voices at St.Martin's', there is a beautiful lyrical quality to the words, mainly focused on his time in London and everyday goings-on that he witnessed - about the trains, the people, the weather. 'Temp' is definitely more risque - '... it got/my water heater/humming then we bang'. I love the final lines of 'If You're Not Doing Her Sheets' - '... it's the steward who apprehends/her needs just by/meeting her gaze/who fans the blaze.' This one inspired by Boss's time in France. Some pieces here read much more like prose - in fact, a lot of the poetry is prose poetry. The use of the verb 'luffing' in 'A Man Pulls a Sweater Over His Shirt' is superb, and one of a number of Austrian poems. In 'My Book Opens on Top of His', the meter is reminiscent of rap - '-no cover-/one featherweight lover/on another feather/weight lover -' - without a doubt, original in so many ways.

Boss has clearly being influenced by his travels - and his state of mind, and experiences, in different places. What makes this collection particularly special is the 'plans' of towns interspersed throughout, and explained at the end.

Many people don't read poetry for pleasure - but one can learn a lot about a writer, and a specific time in their life, if time is given over to indulging. I read 'Someday...' quite quickly and, personally, enjoy the intensity that such reading brings. I recommend you give it a go, even if you're not naturally a poetry reader.

[2.5 stars rounded up]

"Someday the Plan of a Town" combines lyrical prose and wanderlust to create a collection of poems about Boss's time house-sitting around the world. The poems are well written and descriptive but lacked the substance I was hoping for from a book about leaving your comforts to go into the unknown. The poems read beautifully but land flat in my opinion. With poetry, I find that a lot of enjoyment comes from a person's taste, so this collection may be more enjoyable for another reader. I think my issues stem from the mild white and wealthy privilege that came through; it's easy to be a white man traveling the globe thus there wasn't much for me to learn and empathize with.