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EarthCentre:

THE END OF THE UNIVERSE

An aesthetically pleasing but largely unintelligible poetic work.

M.Stow12 (Universe Verses 1: Stellation, 2015) presents the first volume of a long poem.

Using concepts borrowed from mythology, pop culture, and cosmology, the author offers readers the first section of a verse saga, described as both “an eschatological mystery re-solved” and “an Anthropic Odyssey: Being a topological themed mystery ride through: The Cosmos.” Replete with imagery of nuclear war and space travel, the poem seems to offer a narrative of mankind’s future flight away from Earth (or “EarthCentre”) and of a corresponding journey of the soul through life and into the afterlife. The specifics of the story, however, are somewhat obscured by the density of the language. Much of the time, the verse reads almost like sound poetry, with words chosen for their phonetics as much as for their semantics: “As baked-through Hadean Inferno internal-torched. / Super-Solar scorched gloating bloating boating / Gloaming gloomy gleaning gleaming / Stranded stricken nail-bite shielding un-welded heaving-to.” Numerous endnotes explain the many references that dot the verses (“Zelda is a modern feminine battling computer-game character…Link is the self-styled game-player”), though they rarely shed much light on what’s transpiring in the poem itself. M.Stow12 includes a number of photographs throughout, depicting everything from ancient artwork to models of supernovae to diagrams of atoms to charts comparing the development of embryos of various species. The poet has an impressive lyrical skill, with roiling meters and compounding rhythms that are sometimes reminiscent of Gerard Manley Hopkins’. The poetry is especially pleasing when spoken out loud, as M.Stow12 encourages the reader to do. That said, the poem’s meaning is highly esoteric, and although readers can get some sense of its themes, they will more often be reading blindly, without much sense of purpose. The illustrations, most of which appear to be clip art, come off as tacky, and the endnotes seem to be intended more to reveal the poet’s influences than to elucidate the project. Dedicated readers may be inspired to try to “re-solve” this mystery, but more casual fans of poetry will likely tire of the work after a few murky pages.

An aesthetically pleasing but largely unintelligible poetic work.

Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-4910-1735-7

Page Count: 168

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2016

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GREENLIGHTS

A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.

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All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.

“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.

A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.

Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020

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CALL ME ANNE

A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.

The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.

Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.

A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.

Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023

ISBN: 9781627783316

Page Count: 176

Publisher: Viva Editions

Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023

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