I can't even summarize it. It's a surreal and playful book that teaches you how to read it as you go.
Here are things I especially liked [poetry spoilI can't even summarize it. It's a surreal and playful book that teaches you how to read it as you go.
Here are things I especially liked [poetry spoilers below]:
From 'Killed with an Apple Corer, She Asks What Does That Make Me':
"For all her life she did piece work on the orange assembly line, she tied awful flesh knots at the ends of oranges to separate one from the next,"
From 'History of the House Where You Where Born':
"First it was the house where you were born born tragically, with an Appearance--and so many people crowded to see that the house mistook them for hungry, and you balanced your reflection on the blade of a knife and said, 'I have slices to sell them,' and the house where you were born became a butcher-slash- window store,"
From 'The Cartoon's Mother Builds a House in Hammerspace':
"Meanwhile, the enemy's hair keeps growing out of nowhere, pulling itself further into existence minute by minute.
The cartoon cuts it as fast as it can grow, cuts it close and closer to the head, then disappears under his enemy's scalp and snips the very idea of hair. Which will grow again."
I found this for $7 at Powell's on a whim, which is unheard of for a poetry winner of the Pulitzer that's been lauded on NPR, and is ALSO about space I found this for $7 at Powell's on a whim, which is unheard of for a poetry winner of the Pulitzer that's been lauded on NPR, and is ALSO about space and science and David Bowie. I had to bite.
I didn't exactly fall in love with the language, but I think my hopes may have been too high--I want more poems about space, and more about David Bowie in relation to space. I may have read as a fan-girl too full of my own ideas for riffs. So I'll return to this. And I'll definitely want to keep an eye on Tracy K. Smith's work in the future.
Favorites: "My God, It's Full of Stars" "The Universe Is A House Party" "Don't You Wonder, Sometimes?" "No-Fly Zone"...more
When our days are numbered, IForeward by BOB HICOK. Swoon the first.
In place of a dedication, there is this:
"This Moment Is Not Unlike the Last Moment
When our days are numbered, I burrow into your back, plant daffodils until the weeds come. When the weeds come I go on strike. My sign reads I AM THE LEAST LIKELY TO LET GO. My sign reads THIS IS A SIGN, DA DA DA."
Swoon the second.
And it goes on from there. Some poetry collections will make you contemplative, or jealous--this one wears cologne, turns the charm up to eleven and seduces you by saying disarming things, by seeming not to try. It is a very good thing that this Gregory Sherl lives in Florida, a state where no one ought to go. These poems, man...these poems will lead a reader on.
Sometimes the poems are about sex, other times they're about living with neurological disorders, but more typically about both at the same time. I was going to list favorite poems, but flipping through in review I realized I like them best read in succession, all together like a sheaf of letters from the boyfriend you think you might have had....more
Better potential than execution, perhaps, but I can love it for the idea alone. Here is a book containing a poem in which Margaret Sanger addresses IdBetter potential than execution, perhaps, but I can love it for the idea alone. Here is a book containing a poem in which Margaret Sanger addresses Ida Craddock. ...more
First book I picked up as an example of "gurlesque." Rough and driven as a collection, lots of deliberate narrative vertigo; still hard to pick out a First book I picked up as an example of "gurlesque." Rough and driven as a collection, lots of deliberate narrative vertigo; still hard to pick out a single poem that has the power to hint at the general effect of the collection together. Guess I'll have to hope the people I recommend it to are ready to read the whole book....more
I keep reading this series habitually, even though I haven't really enjoyed most of a collection in years. Just for my own reference, the poems I founI keep reading this series habitually, even though I haven't really enjoyed most of a collection in years. Just for my own reference, the poems I found interesting:
"Ring Tone", Bruce Bond "Mum's the Word", Bob Hicok "How to Be Eaten by a Lion", Michael Johnson "Red", Mary Oliver (usually don't like her work) "On Mercy", Kevin Prufer "Love", Martha Silano "Like a Monkey", Mitch Sisskind "At the New York Public Library, I heard Derek Walcott dismiss the prose poem", Vincent Stanley "Ultimately Justice Directs Them", Craig Morgan Teicher "A Sea-Change", Derek Walcott ...more
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