Lovescene Limousine and Company is a bilingual poetry edition that traces the cycle of attraction, sex, bonding, trust, betrayal, and heartbreak of its speaker’s romantic connections and other relationships.
The collection is comprised of free-verse and rhyming poems in English, followed by the same poems in French, arranged into four sections: “Romance/ Romances,” “Rejection/ Rejet,” “The Company/La Compagnie,” and “Women/ Femmes.” Subjects vary from love gone bad to the welcome companionship of a “feline friend” to parenthood and even faith. Most of the poetry, however, relates to the universal themes of desire, love, and loss.
Throughout the collection, Ferguson offers some poignant moments, such as the palpable longing expressed in “Seven-Year Itch” by a speaker experiencing a mid-life crisis: “call it ‘no reason’ laughter/ hair falling loose/ blue-moon silly faces// […] and losing control/ at forty.” The poet also delivers some fresh and satisfying imagery, such as in “Pet”: “cat plume hair rise/ watch leaves blow/ on the window/ sill…”
Too often, though, the poems deliver prosaic passages lacking the concrete details and context that would engage readers (“it’s not so easy to move away/ letting love fall apart and go astray”; “Now I’m made a new person/ and I’m free from your opinions”; “I thought you had me fooled/ and then, you pulled me through./ You had warm waters to show,/ then, naturally, my spring poured out to you”). Ferguson also often relies on overly familiar ideas and images (“I’m so mesmerized/ in the twinkle and hesitation from your eyes”; “when you look this way with those glances,/ the opportunity smiles with second chances”).
While there are highlights here, overall, the poems require greater finesse in diction, imagery and specificity to reach a wide audience of contemporary poetry readers. Still, those grappling with emotions born of varied romantic connections may appreciate the kindred soul they will find in these pages.
