Book Review – Three Lines by Grace Black

By Tony Press

Ten years ago I spent a November day alone on a beach near Malaga, Spain. I alternated between meditating for a few minutes and then writing quick three-line responses until the two actions became nearly one. In Grace Black’s small gift of a book called Three Lines, it is as if that day was writ large, but this time, written not quickly but elegantly, thoughtfully, skillfully and lovingly.

This tiny book—barely 5 inches by 8 inches—is filled with three line poems-tales-observations-truths-micro fictions (it is hard to label each piece except to say each has three lines. Each is titled, too, but curiously. The title follows the lines. My efforts on that Spanish beach were momentary sketches, destined to last, only the tide washed them away. Grace Black’s words are lasting.

It is a most unusual project. Almost every one of the 116 pages contains exactly three lines, followed by a title, and nothing more. It is both spare and flush. Emotions are not hidden, and truths are not ignored. It can be read in its entirety, swiftly or slowly, or it can be dipped into, one page at a time, that page’s handful of words to be savored, to be experienced again. Each time we shine light on one of her pages, we see it a bit differently.

There are three distinct sections: Loss; Lost; and Left. I would argue that the words Love, and even Lust, could have been employed equally well.

Consider these three, one from each section (Black relies exclusively on capital letters):

IT’S THAT HOUR AGAIN
TIME, WHERE TIME
SEEPS BENEATH THE SKIN

SANDS

YOU THINK YOU KNOW
BUT YOU DO NOT
SHE’S ALL THE WORDS LOVE FORGOT—

ERASED

LIE AS LOVERS
TATTOOING WHISPERS
IN CROOKS OF NECKS

SUNDAY

 

As stated, this volume is small, but it indeed contains multitudes. It will not gather dust on a shelf; rather, it will be picked up, read from, and shared, frequently. Let me leave you with one more sample—this one is called “Destruction.”

SHE WORE HER HEART ON SLEEVES
BUT COTTON BURNS
AND HE LIT THE MATCH

There is so much, in so few lines, in this fine little book.

Purchase Three Lines: All That’s Left on Amazon