What Just Happened by Richard Hell (Winter Editions, 2023)

ISBN: 978-1-959708-00-1

Unexceptionally I came upon Richard Hell’s What Just Happened at my local bookstore (Skylight Books), and I started reading it when I got home last night and finished it this afternoon. Rarely do I go reading into a book after I buy one. Usually, it sits on my official pile of ‘books to read’ on my work table in the living room. But something about the design of this volume and greatly admiring Hell’s writings, including his poetry, made me dive in instantly. There are refrains of the ghosts of Ashbury, James Schuyler, in his work, but his voice and style are unique. My mental picture is that Hell should have been writing poetry in Manhattan in the 1950s, but alas, that’s the romantic in me. Richard Hell has an idealized life in that he made music (brilliantly) and is currently a remarkable poet of his time. In other words, I admire his work immensely.

The book has three sections. The first is his poetry, the second an essay, and the third is a series of poetic and seemingly factual reflections. It seems that the book was written during the pandemic, but it doesn’t feel closed-in or shut-in, but more of an expansion of Hell’s inner world than anything else. Since I have been reading Proust and books about the great writer, I’m very intuned to the quiet one in the room that is going beyond one’s apartment into many worlds. What Just Happened is a reflection of one’s emotional and physical landscape. Once I started, only sleep allowed me an excuse to pause. Still, once I awakened this morning, I returned to finish the book because it had a strong emotional pull on me. Maybe because I spend a great deal of time behind my desk writing, reflecting on what I’m reading, and thinking that this is a beautiful companion piece to be added to my world.

The essay in the middle of the book Falling Asleep is a beautiful meditation on the process or entrance to one’s dreams or the practice which are dreaming. Proust wrote about the same thing in Swann’s Way, and only a few writers can express that series of moments before sleep takes over the awakening consciousness. I don’t do narcotics and drink these days minimally, so the sleeping process is very much my psychedelic experience, and reading Hell and Proust regarding all of this, is a high for me.

If you have been following my writings here, you know that I’m dealing with my Mother’s death, and, of course, reading Hell’s incredibly moving poem about his thoughts on his Mom is just a live cable that starts the heart up. It’s a realistic relationship that I think can touch anyone, and there are so many other works here in this book that stir me that way, but also my interest in reading. Hell strikes me as a great reader, and he thinks about what he’s reading, and this volume which serves as a hybrid of poems and essays expresses that adventure incredibly.

What Just Happened can be purchased at your local bookstore, but if you choose to go online, go to Small Press Distribution (SPD) here: Buy Richard Hell's "What Just Happened"