COVID GARDENS by Stark Hunter, reviewed by Hex'm J'ai

Welcome to… Covid Gardens!  Here, you can sleepwalk with Santo and Johnny!  You can grab a cheeseburger with Steve McQueen, hang with the Stones or The Who, enjoy Rice-A-Roni with Eddie and the Showmen meet the ubiquitous Jackie Robinson or have a healthy helping of Veronica Lake’s meatloaf!  You too can star in the newest Covid-19 inspired TV program produced by Allen Funt!!!

But there is one rule.  To fully engage these activities, to fully experience these events, upon entering the Gardens one must follow the Poet’s Instructions. It is also highly recommended that you are multi-lingual or have a translator readily available as these instructions come in various languages, scripts, and dialect.

Covid Gardens: The Anti-Poems of Stark Hunter, is a recent collection published by Mind Tavern Books. Anti-Poems are artistic endeavors that break away from traditional conventions expected from poetry. These are the eloquently crafted observations and interpretations of the NOW in all its absurdity.  In a time of pandemic quarantine, uncertainty, and social unrest many indulged in the outlets available to them to sustain the illusion of familiarity and “normalcy” (whatever that is) through the outlets of music, film, and television.  This created a cultural paradox that many may not have been aware of while it was occurring, but that Mr. Hunter clearly documents and exemplifies in his work.  The stark and threatening reality anesthetized by the culturally topical salve of binge-watching images and listening to music of the world that was, or more accurately, the mythical world we wish existed once upon time.  In Anti-Poem 8, “Veronica Lake’s Meat Loaf” we grab some comfort food with Steve McQueen to the backdrop of:

“Time for the marching of everything designed, to slaughter, annihilate and procreate; The full United States Army.”  

Yet, before engaging this, we must heed the poet’s instruction to only read this if we have both shots of one of the Covid-19 vaccines.

This collection is at once a love letter to the western cultural pantheon as well as the instrument of its undoing, the Anti-Poem exclamation that the emperor has no clothes!

And so, to Mr. Stark Hunter, I say bravo sir…. bravo!

Covid Gardens, The AntiPoems of Stark Hunter is currently available in Kindle format at Amazon.

Anti-Poem 44  “Mona Lisa”

“No Lisa. I am not afraid. 

Where on my sleeve do I shine yellow? 

You are the choicest of life’s pastries. 

The universe has a hard-on for you, 

As I do now here at the end of the world. 

But as you sit there as my eternal lover, 

Your stringent expectations surpassing, 

My abilities to even unfold my capacities, 

I wonder if this is even appropriate now

As millions drown in the hateful gurgling. 

Maybe we can sit here instead and pray. 

Maybe we should close our eyes and listen. 

The survivors now are creating their mad gods, 

With mindless verve and pleasing contours; 

These robot monster hybrids singing arias, 

Making false speeches to the groveling captives. 

Mona Lisa! Mona Lisa! Go home to your mother. 

She fell in the bathtub butt-first and is stuck. 

We sent for the pill salesman to get her out but 

Well, there you have it. 

No, Lisa. I am not afraid. 

I am looking into the green cemetery and now I can see God. 

He is digging up the dead with a bloody pickaxe.”

Born in Whittier, California in 1952, Stark Hunter was a high school English teacher for 34 years before retiring from the classroom in 2017. He has written and published 11 books, which are available on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.

Mr. Hunter’s poetry works can be perused at poetrysoup.com. and allpoetry.com. Mr. Hunter is married with two daughters, a granddaughter, and resides in Chino Hills, California.

An Interview with J. D. Nelson by Hex'm J'ai

 

J. D. Nelson (b. 1971) experiments with words in his subterranean laboratory. His poetry has appeared in many small press publications, worldwide, since 2002. He is the author of several collections of poetry, including Cinderella City (The Red Ceilings Press, 2012). His first full-length collection, entitled in ghostly onehead, is slated for a 2021 release by mOnocle-Lash Anti-Press. Visit Mad Verse for more information and links to his published work. Nelson lives in Colorado.

A few months ago, while reviewing poetry books for GAS, I came across a manuscript: In ghostly onehead 

This was a curious manuscript.  First, what did the title reference, if anything?  Next, and more importantly, was the content of this book.  This was not just a collection of poems.  No, these were experiments, honest to goodness experiments!  Yes, I could discern certain elements such as Dada or Surrealism and definitely a bit of Beat, but these were not the diluted imitation of some poetry super-fan.  These experiments built upon certain aspects of these but did not copy, no, these were a push forward, these were NEW CREATURES!  Who did this?  Who is the mad scientist or poetic alchemist who discovered this technique?  Who is J.D. Nelson!?!

Recently, to my delight, I had the opportunity to ask those questions and more!

Hex’m J’ai:  To start, how long have you been writing? Have you always channeled your creative energies towards Poetic experimentation?

J. D.:  In 1977, when I was about six years old, I was experimenting with my parents’ typewriter, and I showed my dad something that I had created. He said that it reminded him of the poetry of e e cummings. He told me about cummings' work, and he was the first major poet I was introduced to. I started writing poems and little stories in 2nd grade. I was encouraged by my teacher and my parents. For one week in 4th grade, my class participated in a poetry workshop with a young woman who was a poet. (I wish that I knew her name!) She took me aside and said that my work was very good, and that I would make a great poet. In my 9th grade language arts class, I wrote a series of about thirty prose poems entitled Chicken Noodle Ice Cream for extra credit. That was my first real foray into writing that was influenced by Surrealism. Twelve years later, I started seriously writing poems inspired by Dada and Surrealism, especially the work of the visual artists of these movements. The work of the Beat writers was also a big influence by that point. I had been writing lyrics for several years when I started writing poetry. I've always been drawn to surrealist imagery, nonsense, wordplay, and the mystical.

Hex:  Can you think of, or is there a reason, why writing, specifically Poetics, is your chosen creative medium?

J. D.:   I studied visual arts in college for eight years, working in several mediums. I also played in bands, primarily as a vocalist and lyricist, from my teenage years until my early thirties. I had always felt as though I wasn't able to express myself fully through visual arts and music. I've loved writing since elementary school, and in my late twenties, I found that through writing poetry, I was able to express myself more effectively, and with more fulfilling results. Although I did well in school, I found creating artwork to be a stressful and frustrating process, and I was never really satisfied with my work. Writing poetry is a more enjoyable and satisfying enterprise for me.

Hex: Your work has a very distinct voice/flavor (this is an aspect I truly enjoy!). Is this something that developed over time? Would you attribute it to specific influences or experiences?

J.D.:  I have been working on developing my voice for almost 25 years, since I began seriously writing poetry. There are certainly writers who have influenced me, but I do not try to imitate their styles. Kerouac's spontaneous prose techniques and the cut-up technique pioneered by William S. Burroughs are my major influences. Most of my work is created through the cutting up and collaging of my own daily freewriting. My work is also influenced by Dada, Surrealism, and the work of the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets. The element of chance and juxtaposition are especially important in my writing.

Hex:  It is no great secret that you have a prolific collection of work, many pieces of which have been published in various venues. Could you elaborate on your experience with this such as ‘how your work has been received’ or have you received any ‘weird’ comments or questions during the process?

J.D.:  I have been fortunate that my work has been very well received, especially when considering its experimental and surrealist nature. I do receive some comments like, "Hmm," or "Not my cup of tea," etc. I don't let such criticisms get to me.

Hex:  When selecting work to submit and who/what to submit to do you have a specific process? How do you determine which pieces or examples you want to submit? How do you choose which venue to submit to?

J.D.:  It really depends upon which publications are accepting submissions at any given time, and which poems of mine are not under consideration elsewhere. I don't submit simultaneously to multiple publications. Sometimes I submit to publications with themed issues, but not very often. I often write poems with a particular publication specifically in mind. I keep a list of publications that I would like to submit work to, and I maintain a submissions log that shows me which poems are available to submit at any given time. I am always being introduced to publications by my friends on social media. I also search for publications online. I submit to publications that are open to experimental and surrealist work. I read a publication’s back issues and submission guidelines to determine if my work would be a good fit.

Hex:   Recently I’ve had the honor of reading an upcoming collection of your work before it has been released. To my shock, I discovered that this is the FIRST full length collection of your work to be published! With such a large body of work is there a reason as to why you haven’t published a collection earlier?

J.D.:  For many years, my goal was to focus on publishing widely in small press publications in print and online, and to build a name for myself. I have had several smaller chapbooks and e-books published over the years, but, as you've mentioned, my forthcoming collection, in ghostly onehead, is my first full-length effort. I had made a few attempts at putting together longer collections in the past, but I wasn't satisfied with them. In July, 2015, I set out to write a full-length collection from start to finish. Each of the 75 never-before-published poems were written especially for the collection. I feel that there is an energy, as well as thematic interplay, that ties all of the poems together. I finished editing the collection in January, 2021, exactly 2,000 days after I started writing the poems. (In late 2020, I noticed that the 2,000-day milestone was approaching, and I set a deadline to complete the editing at that point.) Upon its completion, I was finally satisfied with a full-length collection of my work. It felt like a working unit, more than simply a collection of loose poems. That is not to say that a collection must be assembled in this manner; I have simply found that this method has been successful for me.

Hex:   All of this considered, is there anything you would like to add? Any words of advice for others or any pros or cons you would like to elaborate on the creative or publishing experience?

J.D.:  Write every day. I have found that to be successful, it is important to develop a daily discipline. Sacrifices must be made. It is important to create a burning desire to succeed. One must be determined. A writer cannot be deterred by rejections from publishers. One must absolutely develop a thick skin to rejections, and learn to see them as being part of the process. Approximately 75% of the work I submit is rejected. Whenever I receive a rejection, I turn right around and submit it to another publication. It's a numbers game; the more one submits, the better one's chances are of being published.

---------------------------------

rainbow grout arizoney

this is the morning of the world

this is the pab-bow

shawing that cob

credit cobe

this is the shape of the universe when I’m not looking

in the dream, we were kicked off of the bus at the expanded park-n-ride

earth is a planned community

---------------------------------

"i saw god cooking children / paint their bones" by John Compton, reviewed by Hex'm Jai

Greetings and salutations bibliophiles!

This is a small and powerful collection.  I make it no secret that I am sucker for well crafted imagery.  If poetry or the literary canon were an organized religion, I would be a devout zealot of the deities Rimbaud and Baudelaire.  That said, there is imagery and then there is IMAGERY.  IMAGERY being beyond the aesthetically pleasing window dressing of ‘imagery’ which, unfortunately, is the more prevalent of the two.  ‘Imagery’ is decorative, it is filagree, form without function and therefore, though beautiful like a floral arrangement, ultimately free of substance.  IMAGERY on the other hand is a fantastic delivery system.  It provides the same aesthetic nature of ‘imagery’ but with function and purpose.  It’s not just ‘pretty,’ it is engaging and transportive; it can be beatific / horrific but always has an effect beyond two dimensions.  IMAGERY is visceral.

Reading this collection is like being emersed in barrage of film shorts…each image or scene carefully crafted and delivered to your core.  Through his concise use of IMAGERY, John paints images into your eye that you can feel, taste, hear and smell as well as see.  Through this delivery system you are provided with both emotion and meaning that you can experience.  These are not longwinded, verbose bouquets of language.  You will not become lost in impressionistic imagery and texture.  You will BECOME the imagery and texture and therefore experience it.

Sample poem from i saw god cooking children / paint their bones:

like & but & &

i went into the room

collapsing

a song bleeds from my ears

i am deaf

i lie on my back

floating          the river

is dense

saltwater like

the dead sea

like the salt

flats

somewhere in utah

like a log like a

dead fish like a leaf

i drift

in my current

unharmed but

harmed

but screaming

but somewhere there is an old lady

crying

swimming to me

paddling & clawing

through the liquid substance

digging at my eyes

my mouth my chest

clotting my ears

with her fingers

with cotton

breathing into my lungs

her oxygen her carbon

dioxide her meager life

When you have finished this collection, you can put it on the shelf right next to “Les Fleurs du Mal”. 

]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]

i saw god cooking children / paint their bones

is available at Etsy via Blood Pudding Press

john compton (b. 1987) is gay poet who lives in kentucky. his poetry resides in his chest like many hearts & they bloom like vigorously infectious wild flowers. he lives in a tiny town, with his husband josh and their 14 dogs and 3 cats. he feels his head is an auditorium filled with the dead poets from the past. poems are written and edited constantly. his poetry is a personal journey. he reaches for things close and far, trying to give them life: growing up gay; having mental health issues; a journey into his childhood; the world that surrounds us. he writes to be alive, to learn and to grow. he loves imagery, metaphor, simile, abstract language, sounds, when one word can drift you into another direction. he loves playing with vocabulary, creating texture and emotions. he has published 1 book and 5 chapbooks published and forthcoming: trainride elsewhere (august 2016) from Pressed Wafer/tba; that moan like a saxophone (december 2016) from kindle; ampersand (march 2018) from Plan B Press; a child growing wild inside the mothering womb (june 2020) from ghost city press; i saw god cooking children / paint their bones (oct 2020) from blood pudding press; to wash all the pretty things off my skin (sept 2021) from ethel zine & micro-press. he has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies.

LITERATI: The Advent and Impact of POD on Poetry by Hex'm J'ai

 

Then: There were the large established publishers.  There were University Presses. There were Journals and Magazines.  There were the small independent and underground publishers and press.  There were self-published ‘zines’ and chapbooks (the route I typically went with limited resources- gutter punk publishing a la photocopier and hope).  There were even what was termed Vanity Presses which were predatory in nature. 

To be published, these were options or avenues open to the hopeful poet/artist.  Yet, there was the issue of accessibility. Would your work meet the aesthetic taste or sensibilities of those reviewing it?  Was your work marketable (concerning the larger entities)?  Did you have access to a university press as either a student or as faculty (and would said press even consider publishing something that wasn’t ‘academic’)?  If there was an independent or underground press that would potentially publish your work, were you even aware of it or have a way to connect with it?

To be published, these were options or avenues open to the hopeful poet/artist.  Yet, there was the issue of accessibility. Would your work meet the aesthetic taste or sensibilities of those reviewing it?  Was your work marketable (concerning the larger entities)?  Did you have access to a university press as either a student or as faculty (and would said press even consider publishing something that wasn’t ‘academic’)?  If there was an independent or underground press that would potentially publish your work, were you even aware of it or have a way to connect with it?

Now: With the advent of publishing on demand, we are presented with an entirely different environment and therefore a different set of, both, advantages, and concerns.  Granted, many of the above entities still exist and continue but in a much different landscape.

The Central Question- “What is the impact of “Print on Demand” on poetry now that EVERYONE can publish a book?”

Well, before answering this, I conferred with a few other poets/artists I know.  As this is a potentially double-edged blade, I wanted in-put.  That said, the responses I received were remarkably similar!  Before getting to that, though, let us explore the potential ‘cons’ and ‘pros’ of the “Print on Demand” phenomenon.

The Cons:

Market Saturation- Now that everyone can publish a book, regardless of skill, talent and caliber, everyone does.  Those gems, those shining stars of the poetic, literary and artistic worlds are at risk of being lost in the crowd.  Their ethereal light being drowned out or muted by the cacophony and echoes of the dross.

Exposure/Promotion- A vast amount of the work being endorsed and promoted by the entities that provide the POD service, those that are reaping the financial benefits outside of the corporations as well as additional promotion and distribution are not those who necessarily have merit or skill as an artist or poet, but those who draw attention and have notoriety via social media.  This has become a new facet of the cult of personality or celebrity.  Ultimately, as one poet pointed out, these “insta-poets” will probably be forgotten in a decade or so.  But as that may true, those who are of higher caliber but not as marketable, are being lost in the shuffle and perhaps, could be lost altogether in time as well.  This brings us to the next…

Corporate Sellouts- “If you can’t beat’em join’em” goes the adage (as I type this, the little crust-punk version of Hex’m J’ai just threw a beer bottle at and tried to head-butt me!).  Most proceeds from POD go to the printing costs and to the corporate overlords and therefore ‘feed the machine’ not the artist.  If you attempt to get a reasonable sum for your creation you ultimately jack up the price for the customer and therefore alienate many who may purchase your work.  The bottom line, if you are not a social media sensation but want a paycheck, you will have to get a job.

Well, enough gloom and doom (well, the boring kind anyway).

The Pros:

Format- So, with many versions of POD you can manifest your work in either a hard copy or digital version!  From an environmental perspective, as pointed out by another poet/artist, this is a huge win as we are not harvesting acres of trees and sacrificing resources for unwanted or terrible manuscripts to be overstocked, end up warehoused as surplus, go to the bargain bin and then the trash.  The only hard copies created are those requested.  Having a low-cost digital version of your creation also makes your work more accessible both physically and economically.

Community/Collaboration- So the flipside of ‘Promotion/Notoriety’.  Through POD coupled with social media you can get the word out!  You can build rapport with other poets, artists, musicians, and creative folk that you would not have been able to reach in decades past due to simple logistics.  The corporate overlords may have their darlings, but they can piss off because now you can collaborate with those of like mind and sensibility!  This, of course, can lead to…

New Forms/Experiments:  Having the ability to interact with and present/receive work to/from others that we could not before promotes evolution of form and further experimentation.  I can now interact with another poet/artist who is in NC, CA, CO, the UK, or Nigeria while on a bus in upstate NY.  We can then take our collaborations and experiments and publish them in the format(s) of our liking to present to others.  We can also continue to be educated by those we interact with as we are exposed to other cultures and styles.  This is ultimately the result of…

Accessibility- This word/concept has appeared in this diatribe repeatedly for a good reason.  Because it is a “Good Reason”.  With POD, those who could not create and present their work in a book format before can.  Those who could not access an appropriate venue for their creative endeavors now can create their own.  Even when kickin’ things gutter-punk, harvesting letters a la serial-killer or ransom note, there were still incidental costs in both money, time, and resources.  Those who could not afford or sacrifice for such an endeavor now can pursue it.  They have the opportunity to present and possess a creative voice of their own and share it with others without having to worry if their particular aesthetic is the correct flavor of aesthetic for the publisher. 

Saturation?  Are you concerned that your gilded letters and verse will be lost in the murmur of thousands?  Are you worried that there will be an onslaught of ‘bad’ poetry? Perhaps, it is a viable concern, in my humble opinion an elitist concern, but valid enough.  Yet, like most terrible art it will erode and vanish in time.  But, that said, what of the poets or artists of excellent quality or of unique experience that would never have been noticed, shared, or experienced due to lack of access? Consider that, for just a moment.   

Consider the work of a young Genesis P-Orridge.  Prior to their projects like Industrial Music or Throbbing Gristle they embarked on an act of guerrilla poetry called Beautiful Litter. In this act, Gen and high school friends (called “Knights of the Pentecostal Flame”) essentially left stacks of cards with random words and phrases on them at pubs and other public places.  The intent was that whoever found them could read them and therefore create poetry/become a poet! 

In this sense, everyone is or can be a ‘Poet’.  That’s right my elitist friends, EVERYONE CAN BE A POET!

In Closing:

So, the input I requested basically echoed all the above, the real concern being the topics listed as the Cons (obviously), specifically the fact that POD is corporate by nature and that the market is essentially saturated.  Otherwise, the resounding response was that this overall, the POD phenomenon, is positive, the benefits of accessibility strongly outweighing the negative aspects. 

For me, it does not matter if what you are creating is good, bad, beautiful, ugly.  I will gladly sift through the dross to discover that one star, that one gilded spark.  I implore any of you to take this opportunity.  Create!  The phenomenon of Print on Demand is apparently here for the long haul, so as other poets and artists have done in the past, adapt!  Make this phenomenon a creative weapon of your own!

Can you hear that?  That faint crackle in the back of your brain?  

GOOD.

With my sincerest encouragement:

Get to it.

-Hex’m J’ai

[Special thanks to Wolf Kevin Martin, R.M. Engelhardt, Matthew Bowers and Belinda Subraman 

for providing input.]

FATA MORGANA by Joel Chace, reviewed by Hex'm Jai

 

Fata Morgana:  noun a mirage.

More precisely, a complex form of superior mirage whose etymology derives from Morgana Le Fay, the Arthurian sorceress/illusionist.

Fata Morgana:  A recent book authored by Joel Chace and published by Unlikely Books.

So, my bibliophiles, let’s discuss an ancient concept.  A concept that is, at the very least, as old as our sentient sapien brains.  A concept that is the philosophical basis for most of the world’s religions.  A concept that is continuously imparted through our communication whether spoken or through symbols.  A concept so ingrained into the human psyche that is the very basis of meaning!!!!

The primary operation of this concept is contrast and comparison: Black/White, Light/Dark, Night/Day, Sun/Moon, Male/Female, Down/Up, Negative/Positive, Everything/Nothing; Blue or Red, Round or Square,etc.

Through this operation we are provided meaning, or so goes the theory.

The Dyad.

D=AB or AB = D

Why discuss this?  What could this possibly have to do with Fata Morgana?  Well, let’s address that right now.

In Fata Morgana Mr. Chace provides us a slim potent tome that is much greater than the sum of its parts on multiple levels.   First, though only a total of 81 pages, this packs a powerful poetic punch with the meaning of the individual pieces and their overall cohesion far exceeding expectations.  Second, we are given a flawless execution in experimental form that comes off with the polished shine of an expert and delivers the overall experience through its implementation.

 

The content of this book is provided by 2 voices, the Dyad.  I do not refer to this as a dichotomy as that would imply diametrically opposed voices relying solely on contrast alone, and though certainly the case in some pieces it is not the defining trait of the relationship of these voices.  More often, the play between these voices is complimentary or they work in tandem, one supporting the other.  Voice A provides us the straightforward poetic narrative that is clear, concise and tangible and in itself well executed.  Voice B (Italicized) on the other is more fluid, sometimes dropping crumbs of wisdom in fortune cookie fashion, sometimes historical foot note or sometimes providing that subconscious lens of perspective.

The third Voice.  Voice D.  The voice of Fata Morgana.  

Though both Voices A and B are by themselves coherent and cohesive the genius of this book lies in spaces in between.  It is in this in between space that Voice D resides.  The tension of Voices A and B, like poles or magnets, is what creates this space and therefore gives Voice D access to the reader and the reader access to Voice D.  Here is the Meta-Voice of Meaning, The Fata Morgana.

Fata Morgana is available at Amazon and published via Unlikely Books.

Fata Morgana

Unlikely Books

Joel Chace has published work in print and electronic magazines such as Eratio, Otoliths, Word For/Word, and Golden Handcuff s Review. Most recent collections include Scorpions, from Unlikely Books, Humors, from Paloma Press, and Threnodies, from Moria Books.

MANYTHING BY Dan Raphael, reviewed by Hex'm Jai

Dan Raphael, a la Dr. Moreau or Dr. Frankenstein, has brought life to a creature of many facets (It’s Alive! ALIVE!!!!)! Through dense verse that is riddled with detail we are given wolves with a taste for quarter pounders and cashiers (A Wolf Walks into a McDonald’s), caustic visual symphonies derived from living (Living Downtown) and translucent sonic Kaiju summoned from the trans dimensional musical arts/sciences as perfected by Jimi Hendrix (If Jimi Hadn’t Died So Young).

Dan has expertly employed various poetic tools to bring this beast to life: Stream of consciousness, sensual synesthesia, prose poem – free verse hybrid forms and even fractal geometry (So Many Swift Fingers)! All of these and more culminating to create this beatific monster who certainly possesses traces of Beat and Dada DNA.  Disjointed!?!  One would think, but Dan has been artful in his fusion of elements.  It is through these techniques, slices of life, observations, critiques and musings that Manything has become an omnibus for existence.

So, now that many of us free to travel and explore, don’t go alone.  Whether you’re going pool side, park side, beach side, mountainside, East side, West side, on the road, on the bus, on the train, on a plane or just on the couch bring a friend.  Manything could be your trusty travel companion full of pocket dimensions!

Available at Amazon via Unlikely Books:

So Many Swift Fingers 

obscurity is not a virtue where alternative islands & lakes 

harness the monster curves of watershed trees, 

fudge-flake dragons sweep up the fractal hills 

curdling whey streams like the blazing sky effect of an agglutinated universe 

cuts diamonds into stars whose cloudy wake defines intermittent turbulence. 

jets flying through mammalian brain folds percolating clusters 

tame gargantuan knots while sponges & foam split snowflake halls 

into the very substance of our flesh, the lungs bronchial trees 

spread apollonian nets & osculating soap where pragmatic chance, 

from recursive to random, ferments sponge coastlines airport strips & tribology 

in brownian emotion conceives a cup on the devil’s terrace, 

a birth process of unforced clustering & cirraform fi laments in predisturbed lakes. 

the invariant translation of river’s failure to run straight, avoid polygons 

& discontinue prices as lexicographic trees take the temperature of discourse 

into a curdled effective dimension

><><><><

we go past the immeasurable to what language can barely 

de-obscure enough to distort through the door in my belly 

as i build the stamina to run my intestinal track, 

a personal best between meals without galoshes 

keeps me from sneaking up on angel-headed hipsters worshipping the visible woman, 

knowing which neurons to fondle & which to numb with cold drink. 

64 doorbells with legible names i recognize none of: my ancestors were thrown off ellis island & could only swim down, where the garbage was so dilute, the fi sh so plentiful you could read by their 

fluorescent eggs 

clouding my antigravity hair like radioactive mosquitoes too generous to die without 

fallout.

as i open the bottle a bone pops, a radius becomes a hemline 

exposing the green palouse of my multiple thighs. 

                                                                                          dinner was half an hour from here, 

we’d drained the biodiesel to make a hundred pounds of french fried curios— 

whatever we could catch, whatever wasn’t thick with feathers or excuses. 

the darkest hour is just before my pancreas’s naps, sending hundreds of photon-sized 

pigeons 

to every antenna too lazy to change frequencies. 

                                                                                         i put half a lake in this balloon 

><><><><

when i begin to taste the mass of stars, the many times more i can’t see, 

                                                            their potential solar & eco systems, 

my skin wants to separate into blazing molecules deaf to gravity, 

my bones with nothing to hold together but nowhere else to go. 

the beginnings of rivers escape from me, & the beginnings of radio stations, 

with every transmission we apart, as these cliff ’s pasts effects the echo— 

                                                                                               loudest 1st, susurrant infections. 

the holographic landscapes inside each flea from all she’s consumed & copied. 

i get an unmarked jar from the basement & eat whatever’s in it, 

sky full of woven, cloud shadows falling like sanskrit birds i’ll never see again 

folding their wings into their bellies before their thousand messengers disperse 

                                       (Many of the words and phrases in the 1st section come from Mandelbrot’s 

                                       The Fractal Geometry of Nature)

 

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, schooled at Cornell University, Bowling Green State University, and Western Washington University, Dan Raphael’s been active in the Northwest for 4 decades as poet, performer, publisher and reading host. He is the author of 20 other published poetry collections, including Everyone in This Movie Gets Paid (Last Word Press, Olympia, Washington), The State I’m In (nine muses books, Winston, Oregon), and Impulse & Warp: The Selected 20th Century Poems (Wordcraft of Oregon, La Grande, Oregon). Dan lives in Portland with his wife Melba and over 400 plant varieties. Retired after 33 years working for the Oregon DMV, he spends non-poetry time practicing electric bass and tai chi, brewing and drinking beer, and every Wednesday he writes and records a current events poem for the KBOO Evening News.

CITIZEN RELENT by Jeff Weddle, reviewed by Hex'm J'ai

CITIZEN RELENT, published in 2019 by Unlikely Books, provides us a temporal triptych. 

3...

The Future.  In this section we are provided Jeff’s musings of very potential future(s).  Whether the bitter-sweet and wistful future in “Responsibility of Eggnog” which makes clear the fleeting of youth or the dystopian probabilities of “In the End” we are engaged with a very tangible concept of time slipping into entropy and a feeling of the inevitable.  This cold inevitability of times march is presented in his “An Archeology”, which is a musing I, myself, and I’m sure many others have entertained.  That said, this not just doom and gloom as there are multiple potentials.  We are reminded to savor those fragile and fleeting moments as in “Please Pay Attention”.

2…

The Present (2019 EV).  Alright friendly friends, here are the politically leaning meat and potatoes of our Americana pie!  Mind you, as I was reading the pieces contained in this section I quickly flipped back to the publishing/copyright page to see when this was published as these poems are eerily prescient of the calamities that ensued the following year.  So, I conferred with the author and he assured me that he is not a prophet of doom.  Indeed, Weddle, the Great and Powerful is not the man behind the curtain but is someone who actually pays attention!  Through pieces like “Twilight Empire” we are presented the dystopia of NOW that became clear to us during 2020 but were always prevalent, hence why Jeff’s ability to be socially astute could be confused with prescience.  We see the undercurrent of social injustice, cultural war, division and threat of fascism as always being there as echoed in “What We Now Endure” and “Charlottesville”.  Also, Jeff employs biblical references, evangelical language, macho MAGA rhetoric and general obliviousness against the very institutions that perpetuate these problems in pieces such as “Just Saying”, “Quiet Jim”, “Oh Beautiful” and “MAGA”.  Again, Jeff has painted for us the very real and crystal-clear image of an ugly unmasked Americana that is lit to pop.

1…

The Past.  This completes the countdown, grounding Jeff’s futuristic musings and present observations in shining nostalgia.  Shining memories for sure but not all are painted gold, that would not adhere to Jeff’s penchant for veritas.  Again, shining with powerful imagery such as painted in “When we Left that Day” or “Sweet Life”.  We are also given my personal favorite from this section “The Deadliest Man Alive” where one can feel the texture of the thin comic book pages and even smell the print.  It made me miss my X-ray specs and the sheer escapism which embodied even the ads in the comics in that lost era (I never got the submarine either Jeff).   

From Citizen Relent:

The Deadliest Man Alive 

I wanted Telecult Power 

and voodoo 

Count Dante’s secrets 

I wanted to be the world’s

 most dangerous something

though I would of course 

use my powers for good 

I wanted to be the one 

kicking sand in some guy’s face 

if there was going to be any sand kicked 

I wanted flying saucers overhead 

and landing in the empty lot 

down the street 

Charles Atlas and dynamic tension 

seemed an answer 

to questions I didn’t know to ask 

and masked ninja masters called to me 

I definitely did not want 

to make extra cash selling flower seeds 

and I never considered 

learning guitar by mail 

or looking suave with a false beard 

though I really did want to send off 

for a pet monkey 

but my parents said no 

so I ordered sea monkeys 

and I got x-ray specs 

and vampire blood 

and a life size poster 

of a moon monster 

the submarine big enough 

to get inside and fire torpedoes 

never came 

even though I sent a check 

from my very own bank account 

and those days are gone 

and most everyone I loved is dead 

or might as well be 

and they haven’t made 

a good comic book 

in forty years

Jeff Weddle grew up in Prestonsburg, a small town in the hill country of Eastern Kentucky. He has worked as a public library director, disc jockey, newspaper reporter, Tae Kwon Do teacher, and fry cook, among other things. His first book, Bohemian New Orleans: The Story of the Outsider and Loujon Press (University Press of Mississippi, 2007), won the Eudora Welty Prize and helped inspire Wayne Ewing’s documentary, The Outsiders of New Orleans: Loujon Press (Wayne Ewing Films, 2007). He teaches in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alabama.