some mini book reviews
With some poets, I've known their names for years without knowing much about them. Barry Schwabsky is one of those. Am I embarassed? Not really. With the enormous amount of great works being written in the U.S. alone, it’s hard to keep up with everything. Today I finally cracked his collection Opera: Poems 1981-2002 (Meritage Press, 2003). The book is not a massive affair—it’s only 102 pages, but the poems are all high quality, and the book was enjoyable to read. His lyrical voice is at once erotic and contemplative. To put it vaguely, the poems are present, almost as if we are listening to advice and contemplation.
Today, I also looked at mIEKAL aND’s Trilobite (Xexoxial Editions, 2006—4th edition). Unlike with Schwabsky, aND’s work is not new to me, so I was prepared for something good in Trilobite, and I was hardly let down. This book of visual poetry is fascinating. I had fun just flipping through the book. When I examined the pieces individually, I found them just as exciting. They are like found fossils, with some parts that we need to fill and some parts suggesting larger worlds we know little about. The book also seems to be jump into poetic theory, a type of visual ars poetica.
With some poets, I've known their names for years without knowing much about them. Barry Schwabsky is one of those. Am I embarassed? Not really. With the enormous amount of great works being written in the U.S. alone, it’s hard to keep up with everything. Today I finally cracked his collection Opera: Poems 1981-2002 (Meritage Press, 2003). The book is not a massive affair—it’s only 102 pages, but the poems are all high quality, and the book was enjoyable to read. His lyrical voice is at once erotic and contemplative. To put it vaguely, the poems are present, almost as if we are listening to advice and contemplation.
Today, I also looked at mIEKAL aND’s Trilobite (Xexoxial Editions, 2006—4th edition). Unlike with Schwabsky, aND’s work is not new to me, so I was prepared for something good in Trilobite, and I was hardly let down. This book of visual poetry is fascinating. I had fun just flipping through the book. When I examined the pieces individually, I found them just as exciting. They are like found fossils, with some parts that we need to fill and some parts suggesting larger worlds we know little about. The book also seems to be jump into poetic theory, a type of visual ars poetica.
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