A Night Without Armor
A Review of Jewel's Poetry Collection
I finally got my library card after a year of waiting. So, naturally, I shuffled over to the poetry section of my local library. It was sparse, I wish there was more selection. But I did find this gem called A Night Without Armor by Jewel. I have a vague memory of this book being published. It was my graduating year, 1998.
My first exposure to Jewel, like most people, was the radio. Two songs from her 1995 album Pieces of You often played the airways. By 1997, I was in my choir class with my guitar plucking You Were Meant For Me with all the girls surrounding me singing (by the way, I married one of those choir girls). Jewel’s folksy voice and original writing appealed to many in the late 90s. Such aspects of music still appeal to me today.
I would think being a song writer poetry would come naturally. Though such a statement depends on your definition of poetry. The poems in this collection are just that: poems. Very much free verse, what I’d expect in modern poetry, not much meter or rhyme. One could say she is writing prose in the shape poetry. Her lines are straightforward and direct storytelling. Though she does work a bit with metaphors and similes. She does some good poetry nonetheless.
Her writing is raw and intimate. Each piece is a story about a woman coming of age, looking for love, and finding fame – whether she likes it or not.
What comes to the fore right away for me is her awareness of her sexuality. Like many women, she has her insecurities. A piece called Envy speaks of bony models flaunting “in vain / such narrowness of frame”. Another called Pretty, she is skimming through a magazine whose cover shows a “pretty girl” and can only see her “dirty / hands / turning the page”.
Aware of her own body she complains about men ogling her breasts in a piece called Sun Bathing. Then in another piece called And So to Receive You, she desires her breasts to be admired, “two silver deities / two shining steeples / giving testament to the sky”. Reminds me of lines from the biblical book Song of Songs.[1]
There is one piece called Infatuation in which Jewel uses the most metaphors, yet it is in-your-face explicit: “but when conquering is complete / the blood leaves its limbs / and it becomes disenchanted”.
There are several poems about her time traveling for her career. Many speak to her loneliness. One called Tai Peishe writes, “I am told / I am adored by millions / but no one calls.” In Red Roof Inn, Boston she writes, “I miss you miserably, dear / and I can’t quite manage / to face this unbearably / large bed / alone.”
There is also tension in what she writes between her aspirations and desires for love. A piece called Wild Horse: “I’d like to call you my wild horse… and ride you savagely…I’d be your hungry Vally / and sow your golden fields of wheat / in my womb”. She longs for love, family, and stability. Yet she has other aspirations that are priority. Second Thoughts in Columbus, Ohio: “Aren’t I supposed to give up / everything? / Aren’t I supposed to be brave / and abandon / each dream and aspiration / and yield utterly to this elusive beast love”. You feel the tension and turmoil ravaging her heart. She chooses her aspirations.
There are other pieces inspired by her growing up; her parents’ divorce, singing in bars with her father; the family caring for a calve of a Crazy Cow, and a lovely poem about her brother and his family called Goodness (A Poem for Shane).
For me, this collection is a window in the heart and soul of a woman just coming to age who feels she is facing the world alone, and desires to conquer it for her own wellbeing. By these words, Jewel expressed her passions, her desires, her wants and longings. She speaks of her lovers, her family, and her beloved Alaska. I felt like I was peering into her world and began to know who she is.
Of poetry she writes:
Poetry is the most honest and immediate art form that I have found, it is raw and unfiltered. It is a vital, creative expression and deserves to find greater forums, to be more highly valued, understood, and utilized in our culture and in our lives. There is such wonderful poetry in the world that wants to be given voice. My hope is to help inspire an appreciation and expression of that voice.[2]
I would recommend this collection is anyone who is or was a fan of her music. It gives some context for the lyrics of her most beloved songs. I would also recommend this to anyone who is Gen X. You will recognize the angst and wantings of a world before the internet ruled the world. You will see the individual struggle for identity and survival as we all faced a brave new world.
Did you listen to Jewel on the radio? Do you still listen to her today?
What do you like most about her lyrics?
[1] “I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace.” So 8:10.
[2] Pg. pg xvi