Johnny Cash
FOREVER WORDS: The Unknown Poems
Blue Rider Press / Canongate Books, 2016
144 pages
Poetry
Johnny cash was much more than he seemed,
as the “Man in Black” he acquired a reputation. Such a label does nothing but
reduce his personality down to a dark and sombre state, which is drastically
unfair. Indeed, as indicated by John Carter Cash’s forward, none of us really
knew his farther. Most of all Cash was human; he had many layers, some of which
his words began to reveal and some of which will never be known.
Whilst working my way through this collection,
I couldn’t help but hear Cash’s voice in my head. I’m a big fan of his music,
and I’m familiar with a large number of his tracks. Perhaps because of this it
came through when reading in a similar metre. Some of the longer poems were
eerily familiar. I could hear him singing with his strong pronunciation of
certain words. It was a wonderful experience.
Of particular note for me was a poe
m called
“Forever.” The title of this edition was clearly named after it, and it is the
strongest one in here:
“You tell me that I must perish
Like the flowers that I cherish
Nothing remaining of my name
Nothing remembered of my fame
But the trees that I planted
Still are young
The Songs I sang
Will still be sung”
It was written just a few months before his death in 2003. And for
me it says a great deal. He speaks to his creator; he questions his fate. Death
is coming for him, as it does for all of us, and he spits in the face of his
end. He may perish, but his songs will be sung. His name may diminish, his
notoriety forgotten, but his songs will still be sung. At the day of his death
he is still young. His body is old, and his heart heavy, but his songs are
young. They will always be remembered. In a sense, he cheats death as his words
enter the realms of immortality: the realms of forever.
To relate back to my original point of layers, as strong as this
poem is, it stands in direct contrast to the track “Hurt.” The lyrics of this
speak a different tale, of a man who would gladly put aside his “empire of
dirt” and do things a little differently if given a second chance. This was
released in 2002, and the point is he clearly felt conflicted things about his
name and legacy. Just a year later his words sounded more accepting and
resigned. Cash was a complex man; these poems do show a glimpse him no matter how
brief or how fleeting it may be.
Due to the nature of the writing here, I only recommend this to
those who are already familiar with the artist himself. If you are not a fan,
this won’t be for you.
_______
Bookworm Sean is a book obsessed English student who can usually be found over on Goodreads, raving about his latest read. Recently poetry has become one of his favorite literary forms of expression; thus he has started to read more and more of it.
