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Hereās a book review I wrote (copied and pasted from goodreads, but I did in fact write it) of Coleman Bomarās Six-Legged Spider from Gob Pile Press. Itās a very slim volume of sixty senryu which is a Japanese form of seventeen syllables, 5-7-5.
A poem from this short chapbook of senryu that seems to represent it well goes āthey call us pansies / southern hospitality / but Iāve killed more deerā
Coleman Bomarās first collection of poetry is slight, only sixty poems and all in this micro form of 5-7-5 syllables. So much goes without saying, and so much is elicited by very few words. We get tiny peeks at a life, a place, relationships and have to fill in the rest. Itās in the South and if there is a unified speaker linking all the poems he seems to be lamenting somebody. The poems are funny and gritty and sad. They open outward from their seventeen syllables onto a panorama of queer American life and heartbreak and something I want to call dislocated ennui. āboyfriendās funeral / family thinks Iām his friend / steady the limp wristā I donāt want to quote more because thereās a finite number of poems in this volume, obviously, and interconnections the reader should be left to draw for themselves. Itās not easy to review except to say that as a modest exercise in emotional preliminaries itās a good accomplishment, a clearing of the throat. Bomar understands the subject of this experience better than anybody, that is clear from the poetry. To make your first strike out of a heavily condensed form, instead of a loose first book that has self-indulgent tendrils wildly flying all over, is a decision that is a good one and also one that seems to be made out of the smaller attenuation of social media that knows it only has milliseconds to find a foothold (or mindhold) in the reader. Maybe the Japanese were onto something and could foretell by centuries the byte-sized digital attention span that would evolve at the end here. In any case, Bomar has written an earnest, heartfelt, gossamer book of Morse code communicating loss and resilience.
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Hereās a link to the latest episode of the podcast Self Exposure which is Sabrina Smallās podcast she started with Derek Maine and Josh Sherman (I think this is the pedigree). They are interviewing my friend and competitor Adam Johnson who just wrote a book of challenging and fierce poetry called Covered in Sharpie and Suing for Peace. I liked listening to this podcast because I know pretty much all the people involved and itās just a good feeling to see others succeed and to feel the community strengthening.
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This is the most beautiful piece of avant garde music I can think of. Notice how the rhythmic squelching patterns donāt repeat (they do at one point but only for like two seconds then the arrhythmia continues). Itās maddening and off-putting but the synths over or behind those patterns have this icy expansive futuristic optimism and beauty. And then there are variations of speed and texture later.
Love this music recommendation. You have exquisite tastes my friend.
Experiencing somebody else's orgasm was in Brainstorm if I recall correctly... I read that line about ants deconstructing dead flies several times. An idea for a story is worming its way in my head. Always interesting Jess!