by Russell Brickey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 24, 2015
Complemented by appropriately fiery biblical references throughout, this collection packs a megaton punch; a powerfully...
Brickey’s poetry collection examines the consequences of weapons testing on the Bikini Atoll from a diversity of perspectives, including the displaced inhabitants of the islands, American political leaders, and pop-culture icons.
Using various structures and rhyme schemes—metered couplets, odes, free verse, screenplay format, etc.—Brickey (He Knows What a Stick Is, 2014, etc.) considers Operation Crossroads—two U.S. nuclear weapon tests on a atoll in the Marshall Islands in 1945—and its lasting consequences. Some of the most profound poems deal with how the American government “relocated” the indigenous population to another island 425 miles away—to an island with poor fishing, no lagoon, and no reef protection—before essentially turning the place they called home for generations into a radioactive wasteland. The propaganda machine was hitting on all cylinders when, from the poem “Emso Leviticus—A Found Monologue,” a newsreel from the time states: “The natives, a nomadic lot, are happy that the / Yanks are spicing things up.” This twisting of the truth, cloaking the power of mass destruction in myth and misinformation, is a strong motif throughout. Godzilla is appropriately referenced numerous times (“From this Godzilla stem birthed the Cold War…”) as the symbolic consequence of humankind’s folly with nuclear weapons. King Kong, on the other hand, is a fitting symbol for our appetite for self-destruction. From “Just Another Island”: “This is a manifestation of the Id—this ape monster. He loves. He destroys. He takes what he wants and treats his captive like an island princess. Not even the gods intervene. Meet the beast: A star is born.” The surreal fusion of post-apocalyptic imagery and historical data ultimately creates an experience that is simultaneously poignant and disconcerting.
Complemented by appropriately fiery biblical references throughout, this collection packs a megaton punch; a powerfully moving, witty, and sometimes-irreverent series.Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Wild Leaf Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Katie Keridan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 2, 2018
Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.
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Keridan’s poetry testifies to the pain of love and loss—and to the possibility of healing in the aftermath.
The literary critic Geoffrey Hartman once wrote that literature—and poetry, in particular—can help us “read the wound” of trauma. That is, it can allow one to express and explain one’s deepest hurts when everyday language fails. Keridan appears to have a similar understanding of poetry. She writes in “Foreword,” the opening work of her debut collection, that “pain frequently uses words as an escape route / (oh, how I know).” Many words—and a great deal of pain—escape in this volume, but the result is healing: “the ending is happy / the beginning was horrific / so let’s start there.” The book, then, tracks the process of recovery in the wake of suffering, and often, this suffering is brought on by romantic relationships gone wrong. An early untitled poem opens, “I die a little / taking pieces of me to feed the fire / that keeps him warm / you don’t notice that it’s a slow death / when you’re disappearing little by little.” The author’s imagery here—of the self fueling the dying fire of love—is simultaneously subtle and wrenching. But the poem’s message, amplified elsewhere in the book, is clear: We go wrong if we destructively give ourselves over to others, and healing comes only when we turn our energies back to our own good. Later poems, therefore, reveal that self-definition often equals strength. The process is painful but salutary; when “you’re left unprotected / surrounded by chaos with nothing you / can depend on / except yourself / and that’s when you gather the pieces / of the life you lost / and use them to build the life you want.” The “life you want” is an elusive goal, and the author knows that the path to self-definition is fraught with peril—but her collection may give strength to those who walk it.
Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-72770-538-6
Page Count: 196
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by William Poe ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 16, 2015
Downbeat but often engaging poems and stories.
A slim volume of largely gay-themed writings with pessimistic overtones.
Poe (Simple Simon, 2013, etc.) divides this collection of six short stories and 34 poems into five sections: “Art,” “Death,” “Relationship,” “Being,” and “Reflection.” Significantly, a figurative death at the age of 7 appears in two different poems, in which the author uses the phrase “a pretended life” to refer to the idea of hiding one’s true nature and performing socially enforced gender roles. This is a well-worn trope, but it will be powerful and resonant for many who have struggled with a stigmatized identity. In a similar vein, “Imaginary Tom” presents the remnants of a faded relationship: “Now we are imaginary friends, different in each other’s thoughts, / I the burden you seek to discard, / you the lover I created from the mist of longing.” Once in a while, short story passages practically leap off of the page, such as this evocative description of a seedy establishment in Lincoln, Nebraska: “It was a dimly lit bar that smelled of rodent piss, with barstools that danced on uneven legs and made the patrons wonder if they were drunker than they thought.” In “Valéry’s Ride,” Poe examines the familial duties that often fall to unmarried and childless people, keeping them from forming meaningful bonds with others. In this story, after the double whammy of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hits Louisiana, Valéry’s extended family needs him more than ever; readers will likely root for the gay protagonist as he makes the difficult decision to strike out on his own. Not all of Poe’s main characters are gay; the heterosexual title character in “Mrs. Calumet’s Workspace,” for instance, pursues employment in order to escape the confines of her home and a passionless marriage. Working as a bookkeeper, she attempts to carve out a space for herself, symbolized by changes in her work area. Still, this story echoes the recurring theme of lives unlived due to forces often beyond one’s control.
Downbeat but often engaging poems and stories.Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5168-3693-2
Page Count: 120
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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