The Daily Glance (The Kollectiv Series)
Lynn Behrendt's Acquiescence is quite disturbing if read on a surface level. It's like having the title of Levertov's Breathing the Water turned into a poem. By that, I mean that the chapbook is one long poem describing someone acquiescing to water. Each stanza is two short lines, as if the lines mirror the slow process she's describing of drowning.
let go the edge
blue rim, water
sink down into it
stop breathing
if it hurts
just stop
The actual description of someone drowning is not fun to read, but the way she describes the process is interesting because she brings up giving into something deeper, giving in to that which surrounds you. Also, she shifts between first person and second person, almost suggesting that the experience is bigger than a single person, as if it is something we all experience. And that, of course, brings up the question of whether or not we need to read the experience of drowning, of giving into something, as metaphoric for something else. Basically, are we in the realm of allegory? Funny enough, I don't find myself asking that much with contemporary work.
Beyond the content, the chapbook is a great example for showing why I like the Kollectiv. The chapbook is just larger than a business card, and it folds out like one long piece of paper. It also comes in a sleeve made from a cut up map--mine includes water and land, but I'm sure they are all slightly different.
Lynn Behrendt's Acquiescence is quite disturbing if read on a surface level. It's like having the title of Levertov's Breathing the Water turned into a poem. By that, I mean that the chapbook is one long poem describing someone acquiescing to water. Each stanza is two short lines, as if the lines mirror the slow process she's describing of drowning.
let go the edge
blue rim, water
sink down into it
stop breathing
if it hurts
just stop
The actual description of someone drowning is not fun to read, but the way she describes the process is interesting because she brings up giving into something deeper, giving in to that which surrounds you. Also, she shifts between first person and second person, almost suggesting that the experience is bigger than a single person, as if it is something we all experience. And that, of course, brings up the question of whether or not we need to read the experience of drowning, of giving into something, as metaphoric for something else. Basically, are we in the realm of allegory? Funny enough, I don't find myself asking that much with contemporary work.
Beyond the content, the chapbook is a great example for showing why I like the Kollectiv. The chapbook is just larger than a business card, and it folds out like one long piece of paper. It also comes in a sleeve made from a cut up map--mine includes water and land, but I'm sure they are all slightly different.
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