POEMS THAT SING

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This Poem
     Adeena Karasick
          Talonbooks

Today, in Victoria, a quill of poets sat around Val's huge table and talked poetry. We read and discussed poems by each other and poems we liked by somebody else. 

"Bring a poem you love and tell us why," said George, ahead of time. How the heck can you possibly have a favourite poem? Mine changes from week to week. The poem I chose to read as my (current) favourite? A selection from Adeena Karasick's This Poem, published in 2012 by Talonbooks. 

It's really a long poem, so obviously I only read enough to whet appetites, but wow, what a book! What a poem! It dances with words: sings nouns; juggles verbs; flirts with adjectives. The way she plays with language is incredible. Just listen to this:

     It is sick of your unzipped files

     your empty typologies

     (your references, preferences, profiles all pulsing and

     compressed) –

                                                      and just wants you to be its

                                                         bloggy woggie goggle boy

     at Avenue C.

     Oh for goodness sake, this poem just wants to let its

     fricative flag fly

     all milfy and delicious

             (mille feuille)

                                            And says verfremd me.

     'cause it's all ghetto-glam, googley-eyed and gangsta

                                                     is also working on a 4G network

     Counting its corollaries

     managing its waste. Living beyond its mean-

     ing; comes equipped with

     a bibliontological all-access pass

     And is going public.

She has words exposing themselves, falling over themselves, laughing at themselves, tripping, laughing, sighing and singing. Loud, glorious, beautiful singing. But don't just take my word for it. Listen to her perform some of it here.

George Bowering, our fearless leader, got to see his brand new chapbook, Los Pájaros de Tenacatita, published by NIB Publishing aka Nose in Book, aka me. Naturally, George got the first one. I will soon have the rest of them sewed and you can email me if you want one! Or get one from the man himself.



You can see what a serious lot we are. Work, work, work.



One more thing. Don't know who's reading this blog, but numbers are going up and it's perfectly okay to leave a comment! 

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