The Clerk's Tale

In a recent double fiction issue, The New Yorker devoted the entire back page to a single poem, "The Clerk's Tale," by Spencer Reece. The poet who drew such unusual attention has a surprising background: for many years he has worked for Brooks Brothers, a fact that lends particular nuance to the title of his collection. The Clerk's Tale pays homage not only to Chaucer but to the clerks' brotherhood of service in the mall, where "the light is bright and artificial, / yet not dissimilar to that found in a Gothic cathedral." The fifty poems in The Clerk's Tale are exquisitely restrained, shot through with a longing for permanence, from the quasi-monastic life of two salesmen at Brooks Brothers to the poignant lingering light of a Miami dusk to the weight of geography on an empty Minnesota farm. Gluck describes them as having "an effect I have never quite seen before, half cocktail party, half passion play . . . We do not expect virtuosity as the outward form of soul-making, nor do we associate generosity and humanity with such sophistication of means, such polished intelligence . . . Much life has gone into the making of this art, much patient craft." How does a life of service in the modern world shape the soul of a contemporary American poet? Poems About Work and Service: From the quasi-monastic life of salesmen at Brooks Brothers to the "brotherhood of service" in a mall where the artificial light echoes that of a Gothic cathedral. Quiet Queer Experience: A tender, observant portrait of queer life and camaraderie, from the witty banter of coworkers to the shared solitude after the mall closes for the night. A Longing for Permanence: Spencer Reece’s restrained and powerful verse searches for the eternal in the transient, finding beauty in a poignant Miami dusk, an empty Minnesota farm, and the fading light over Portofino.