The Daily Glance
Jason Bredle's Standing in Line for the Beast is humorous and, at moments, profound. In most of the pieces, the speaker just meanders, throwing in reference to all sorts of things, from Chomsky to ER to Rick Moody. In the collection, there are some vague references to the end of the world, but these are kept in check by the random ideas thrown at us. Most of the poems wander in a good way, but some are about specific people or things, like "Girls, Look Out for Todd Bernstein"--the title probably tells you what you need to know. In fact, the titles in the book give you a taste of the poems: "The Horse's Adventure," "The Right Hand of Karma Is Extending Its Middle Finger," The Year of Living Regrettably." Bredle's poems work well at a reading because they are funny and easy to follow; plus, they have a "talky" thing going on in them. Take, for example, the beginning of "Readings:"
What I want to know is who's the idiot
who said no when Michael Ondaatje asked
if there was an echo in the room during his reading,
the idiot who said we could hear him just fine,
because all I heard was a series of mumbles.
Comments