The Daily Glance
These poems deal with contemporary life, and they do not stray from political commentary, but what most impresses me about this collection is the way in which Sprague shows herself/us thinking through the conflicts of her/our life: environmentalism/convenience, individuality/corporate brand construction, horrified/apathetic. Her topics are ones that many people are talking about today and trying to comes to terms with, and she shows herself as not having answers as much as being engaged in the debate. She contains multitudes but does not force them into a unity.
Jane Sprague's The Port of Los Angeles feels like a completely American book. It's Whitman pulled through contemporary poetics to California.
we follow helicopter beams to the beach
we watch the bust from afar
watch sirens flare flickerblue
watch people handcuffed wade through water to beach to car to confinement
we watch the one who gets away
people locked in containers
people locked in and let out
we have arrived
the bid empty
we follow yachts
the path of canals
we watch fires burn
Courtney Love tied down and thrashing
Michael Jackson's felt codpiece
this is the nightly news
this is the promised land
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