The Daily Glance: Brief Nudity
Larry O. Dean's Brief Nudity is filled with satire and a strong lyric presence, though clearly one with a rakish intellect. Being familiar with his work prior to this book, I am not surprised; in fact, I think it makes reading this book enjoyable. Money, crap, sex--the satire covers a range of things in this work of poetry that doesn't take itself too seriously as art--it makes fun of poetry as art instead of just poetry.
One excerpt from "You are Untrustworthy" will give you a clear feel for the work:
a woman yells
not unkindly
at her hyperactive
chocolate lab
trotting off
leash squiggling
snakelike along
the sidewalk
while she squats
gripping shit
in a Ziplocked fist
Clearly, this is not a image you would see in high art, but that's what makes it interesting. It's focused on a moment, an emotional one at that, and we see it vividly, and it's written in a way that makes it clear the poet knows contemporary poetry. Many of the poems in this book work in a similar way, and that makes it a good book to pull you from the clouds for a few moments back to where poetry happens in the now.
Larry O. Dean's Brief Nudity is filled with satire and a strong lyric presence, though clearly one with a rakish intellect. Being familiar with his work prior to this book, I am not surprised; in fact, I think it makes reading this book enjoyable. Money, crap, sex--the satire covers a range of things in this work of poetry that doesn't take itself too seriously as art--it makes fun of poetry as art instead of just poetry.
One excerpt from "You are Untrustworthy" will give you a clear feel for the work:
a woman yells
not unkindly
at her hyperactive
chocolate lab
trotting off
leash squiggling
snakelike along
the sidewalk
while she squats
gripping shit
in a Ziplocked fist
Clearly, this is not a image you would see in high art, but that's what makes it interesting. It's focused on a moment, an emotional one at that, and we see it vividly, and it's written in a way that makes it clear the poet knows contemporary poetry. Many of the poems in this book work in a similar way, and that makes it a good book to pull you from the clouds for a few moments back to where poetry happens in the now.
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