THE RIDDLE OF THE WOODEN GUN
Lummox Press
P.O. Box 5301
San Pedro, California 90733
144 pages
$15.00
available from amazon.com or lummoxpress.com

All right, then, let me make this clear…over the last several weeks I’ve sat down and started to write this review any number of times. I’ve got sitting in front of me right now eight pages of notes that I’ve taken. The thing is, I want to be objective. I don’t want the review to come off sounding like I’m an unabashed fan of everything Todd Moore writes…but I just can’t help it. For my money, he just happens to be one of only a handful of the current writers of poetry who can seriously and honestly be considered great. There! My opinions are out in the open. You know how I feel and so I can proceed with my review.

In a world filled up with copy-cat poets and writers who mistakenly try to move their work forward by looking back over their shoulders, Todd’s work is unique. He has a very definite voice all his own, and (more importantly) he has something to say. That being said, in THE RIDDLE OF THE WOODEN GUN, the latest installment of his now legendary and elusive Dillinger Series, he brings the famous Depression Era Outlaw to life on paper like no one ever has or ever will.

At the center of this poem is the famous wooden gun that Dillinger did or didn’t use in his famous escape from Crown Point Prison in Indiana. Interestingly, the legend of the wooden gun is the only thing in the whole Dillinger tale of enough importance to be able to compete with John Dillinger himself. But, in this current entry of Moore’s, it’s not only Dillinger who has a wooden gun, practically everybody and his brother has one, knows a story about one, or has come into contact with one. On the surface, this may sound like the dumbest idea in the world for even a short poem…don’t even mention an entire 144 page book-long poem. But that’s exactly where Moore’s talent comes into play. He not only manages to pull it off, but in doing so, he also turns it into compelling, page-turning poetry of a very high order. This quirky, unsettling poem is filled with violence and raw emotion. It is also brilliant in its conception and execution.

There really is no “story” to the poem per se, at least not in any strict linear sense, there’s just this whole alternative reality to the thing that jumps back and forth in time and location, constantly toying with the idea of Myth as a force in and of itself. This myth (and the gun associated with it) seems to somehow be rooted at the core of the entire Dillinger saga. It doesn’t matter one bit that practically every scene in this book is made up out of whole cloth. It just doesn’t matter, because it only ADDS to the myth.

For me, one of the most interesting things about this book from a technical standpoint is the way Moore attacks his subject and lays his words out on the page. Sure, this is a poem/novel…or a novel pretending it’s a poem…but Moore’s lines and the way he uses his page come across as lean and hard as the Great Depression and as deadly and mean as Dillinger himself. The question you’ve got to ask yourself is a book-long poem about the Depression relevant? Read your newspapers. Is John Dillinger relevant? Ask Johnny Depp.

The coolest thing about all this is Todd Moore’s known all this for 30 years. We’re just catching up. If you’ve never read any of the poems in the Dillinger series, this is as good a place as any to start. After all, at the end of the day this may only be a poem about a mythical wooden gun, but be forewarned…this one’s a real killer.

About the Author

John Yamrus