Frankenstein vs. the World

Check out Corina Copp’s eloquent, exuberant essay on Jean Day (& her shout-out to Wild Orchids) in the August issue of Cambridge Literary Review.

The anxiety of suspension is met with the event of, albeit irregular, becoming. Writes Day in the prologue to The Literal World: “But what makes any word relevant is its ability to go and come back (‘The eager note on my door said “Call me”’), to be a ‘thing about to happen to anyone’, its unavoidable contradictions basking in the light of taboo.” But this eventuality is a bettering of the American future, feathering out as a moment of tranquility—or ataraxia, freedom from disruption. In fact, I’d say it’s this certain repose that seems more and more prevalent in Day’s newer work, such as that in Daydream. The repose is evident in the poetry’s canter, its comedy, and its contemporaneity. Living in the world partly means facing its sonics meeting its “fingerlettes”, to use a term from Barbara Guest. Guest wrote of Osip Mandelstam: “[He] once wrote of sound spilling into fingers. That could be the noise of a poem when it meets the ecstasy of recognition.”

Tags: Corina Copp, jean day.

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She says this isn’t a rave, it’s a party
& I said I’m sorry, but god bless the DJ
These guys with their eyes in their visors are a good place to start if you’re looking for K
Our teachers they call her Katrina
But really when you’re speeding towards sunrise
Katrina’s a bit much to say
Now we just call her K
& her boyfriend’s the bass
He’s got guts, he’s got grace
He’s the boy with the pipe in his face
  – “Katrina and the K-Hole” by Lifter Puller

Tags: lifter puller.

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The everlasting Grace Tran is in a cool new band called the Future Hits, with Matt Baron. Their first show was last month & is archived here. Each song is a mnemonic for kids learning English (listen for the long-’O’ sounds in “Yellow Boat”).

Tags: grace p.t. tran.

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We curse behind metal masks
All along the freeway
Eating messy sandwiches
All along the freeway
Making calls to our best friends
All along the freeway
See the sun set on my left
On my way to Santa Monica
Animal Collective
All along the freeway
Passing places I’d never live
All along the freeway
Passing fucked-up accidents
All along the freeway
See the sun set on my right
On my way down to Long Beach
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Tags: katy davidson, key losers.

Eric Baus has written a thoughtful review of CAConrad & Thom Donovan’s Arthur Echo over at Jacket2, linking to a recording of a February performance of the book at Zebulon Cafe in Brooklyn. Baus also  cannily nods to Kevin Killian’s heartstopping poem about Russell, “Is It All Over My Face?,” and links these two works — obliquely — by noticing the way that Russell’s music both exemplifies and spurs multiple voicings.

Tags: arthur russell, caconrad, eric baus, scary topiary press, thom donovan.

Tags: buck downs.

Tags: john wieners.