Splices by Mark Smith-Soto

Splices by Mark Smith-Soto

reviewed by DAVID CREWS

Finishing Line Press, 2013

*****

Most of the multiple definitions of the word splice suggest a joining or uniting of two things—rope, cable, wood, wire—the joining of physical objects. Though if you’ve ever awkwardly sat on your couch watching the cable guy hook you up, or if you remember back to when woodshop was still an actual class, or if you’ve ever perhaps received a tutorial on how film strips are made: anyone who’s seen a person working with his or her hands, splicing things, quickly recognizes that in order to join, there’s a whittling away, a cutting, a shaving down, a sanding or smoothing that must occur in order for the joint to come together. In fact, many might say it’s the cutting that proves most important to the act of splicing. The word originates as an old sailor’s term, coming from the Middle Dutch splissen, which has roots in the meaning “to split.” And so we come to yet another one of the countless conundrums in the English language: words often engage themselves in an ongoing dialectic….more at https://adirondackreview.homestead.com/book161.html