Appreciating Philip Guston

I came to Guston's work years ago through my admiration for Morton Feldman's music and reading of their childhood friendship which Feldman broke off in the '60s when Guston abandoned abstract expressionism for the "cartoony" figural work seen in these paintings. Feldman's doctrinaire attitude seems ugly and narrow minded in the face of so much beauty (not to mention irony) in Guston's late works. They look especially good seen close up in person because of their textured surfaces.

Great Poetry by Natalie Lyalin and Julia Story

I've recently been very impressed by these two writers. The books are Natalie Lyalin's Pink and Hot Pink Habitat and Julia Story's Post Moxie.

Being mostly at a loss for explaining what it is that excites me about these and others of my favorite poetry books (I'm still very new at this), I'll be brief.

Both of these women are exploring similar formal and stylistic territory so excuse me if I lump them together somewhat. Both books consist of cycles of what are basically prose poems though the emphasis is clearly on the poetry here. Both also focus quite narrowly on the personal life experiences of a female narrator, presumably the author, and do so in highly evolved personal vocabularies. There are wonderfully odd conceptual juxtapositions and subtly evocative wordplay in both. Story's Post Moxie is the more delicate and introspective of the two while Lyalin's Pink and Hot Pink Habitat is the more brash and playful. Both are stunning in the sophistication of the writing skills on display and both were revelatory to me personally as examples of what I'm finding I most enjoy in contemporary poetry.

Two More Poems

Hesitant Trees

Those trees…can you believe those trees?
How much does it cost?
What’s the kill ratio?
They grow but not if I tell them not to.
I tell them I’m leaving for Spain
Then stop for a gallon of milk (1%)
And forget all about Spain.
The trees don’t care but are hesitant now
To grow.



The Visitation

We’d known each other and kept our secrets.
After a time, they engulfed, digested and
Excreted us into the little pond down the road.
After a time, two well dressed gentlemen visited us
From the pond and we knew them but it was too late.

So Much to Look Forward To!

These are the not yet released (or re-released) books I'm most eagerly anticipating:

Reading Log

Aug 02, 2010 04:23am


Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry by B.S. Johnson turned out to be a highly entertaining comedy in the dry, erudite British manner about a sociopathic mass murderer. The juxtaposition of such a depraved protagonist and the wit and humor with which he and his story are presented was different from anything I'd encountered in fiction before. Johnson pulls the trick off winningly and once again I thank Stuart Ross for directing my attention to another first rate book.


Aug 8, 2010 04:24am


Reading Stuart Ross's Hey, Crumbling Balcony! Poems New and Selected was so much fun I deliberately limited my intake to just a little bit every day to make it last. With a sampling of his output from 1978-2003 this is a real compendium of the wide variety of methods and subject matter Ross had chosen over the course of his career to that point and I, for one, find those choices, mixing absurdity with depth of feeling and accessible language, to be exactly and satisfyingly right. These poems stimulate with their highly creative wordplay, whimsical flights of fancy and wit while at the same time not shying away from grappling with personal issues of sorrow and regret.

A terrific book then by a writer whose forthcoming publications (a novel has been announced for 2011!) I'll always eagerly seek out.

Reading Log

July 25, 2010 04:27AM


I found James Tate's collection of prose poems Return to the City of Donkeys to be perfect for dipping into desultorily as during lulls at work or whenever a few spare minutes should arise over the course of the day. Nothing earthshakingly original or profound here, just quietly well crafted light entertainments in the mild to moderately absurdist manner spiced here and there with wit and whimsy. Nice stuff.


_______________________________________

July 28, 2010 01:12AM


With the new English translation of Bernhard's 1967 collection, Prose, I must admit to being somewhat disappointed with the unevenness of these early stories. The best ones are the first three and my favorite of all is the opening story, "Two Tutors", which has all the hallmarks of his mature style: the obsessed narrator on the edge of insanity, the comically exaggerated language, the inexplicably weird series of events, etc. "The Cap" and "Is It a Comedy? Is It a Tragedy?" also deliver much of the searing wit I look for in Bernhard. These qualities are either absent or lack the coherence to be very effective in the remaining four stories including the long (40pg.) "The Carpenter" which ends the book. So, worth reading, but primarily for those first three.

Naked Croquet by Doug Melnyk

Canadian author Doug Melnyk's Naked Croquet is another very fine example of narrative fragmentation which fascinatingly coheres into something like the form of a novel. There definitely seems to be a distinct group of writers from north of the border practicing this technique including Lance Blomgren, Geoffrey Brown and most notably, Ken Sparling. Dating back to 1987 as it does, Naked Croquet precedes the published work of these other writers and might possibly(?) have served as their inspiration. Melnyk's book is one of the best examples of the form I've encountered so far with its continually surprising weirdnesses and its subtle profundities. I'm amazed that it seems to still be in print from Turnstone Press. Thanks to Stuart Ross for recommending this one.