a short review of "thorn corners"

last month, my good friend stephen nelson sent me a copy of his amazing book thorn corners. the title is a poem in itself, the two words fit together so perfectly.

this is very much an indication of how the book goes on. from the visual poem on the front to the very last poem , it is a seemingly effortless example of how you do successful minimalist poetry. utterly flawless.

the introduction is an accurate and suitably poetic  summing up of the nature of minimal poetry. i'm flattered to see that he mentions what i said about minimalist poetry.   what he says is best summed up in this quote:

in the minimalist poetry i enjoy, words are magnetised, drawn together sound and shape. you may say letters are like particles- if they are moved by the observer, the poet, something unexpected. the reader is given a quantum surprise.  syllables are atoms, pulled together by sonic vibration to form molecules which combine to dance unusual patterns across the page.  

i couldn't have said it better myself.

the poems themselves are untitled and written in a clear font in a large print. they feel more like concrete poems then linier poems, but then great minimalist poems blend the visual poem and the linier. stephen's style of visual poetry, with the exception of the occasional foray into dirty concrete, is generally clean concrete, and it is something he is a master of. he knows exactly how to use the white space of paper. he has an instinctive beautiful (yes beautiful) feel for how to make the words float in space.

 this clear connection to clean concrete is very much apparent in thorn corners. there is a nebulous quality, and yet a solidity. there is a cleaness and a visual character to these poems. 

the way words and word fragments strike off each other at times and at other occasions connect is a big feature of these poems.  the re-arranging of word fragment, the use of homophones and deeply visual puns are expertly used in a prodigious display of poetic skill. there is not a foot put out of place. everytime i read it i find somthing new. it really is an amazing book and i would certainly recommend getting yourself a copy. or two. share it around;)


ranging from the witty to the profound, these poems are amazing. stephen is one of the greats, and this is a seminal tome. mark my words.

fmachinery

really loved the latest issue of fmachinery (as i always do). great work from Joshua garagan, Spencer Selby, David Baptiste Chirot, Marco Giovenale, John M Bennett (ft.Andrew Topel) and of course the always amazing Gustave Morin (always delighted to see work by him, never seem to see as much of his work as i'd like). visual poetry as i like it best, black and white and dirty. awesome as always. should send Daniel some work at some point. really need to put together wurm. just a bit busy at the moment. i'm starting uni again in a week or so.

fmachinery 104

i received a copy of the latest issue of daniel f bradley's marvelous periodical, fmachinery today . it's up to it's usual high standard, of course. all the poems are by Carlyle baker, a poet whose work i don't see enough of but i certainly think his work is really rather marvelous. he did put a comment on one of my blogs (i forget which one) , asking if i would like to publish his work in wÜrm but as i had no way of contacting him it never went anywhere.

i am allways willing to support and promote the work of others when i can, which is of cource why i set wurm( and k=o=l=l=a=p=s before it) up in the first place, to show case interesting, innovative poetry and i certainly thing there is something very interesting and unique about baker's work.

i definatly recommend you contact Daniel and get him to send you a copy. it's very much worth it.

otoliths

the latest otoliths is an interesting selection of work (as usual).
Geof Huth's submissions are up to his usual high standard. Nick-e Melville's visual poems had a sort of simplicity and wit all of their own.

generally it was all excellent.

word for/word

I've been reading the current issue of word for/word That came out recently. I was glad to see two of my favourite vispoets included : Gustave morin and Andrew Topel.

Gustave Morin's poems were done with his usual verbo-visual finesse.
The first poem "Curdle" is made of a number of images that seem to have different meanings as you look at them. lines of gravity defying glasses pour liquid into each other, But I at first took them to be a line of theatrical spotlights. The actual glasses themselves call to mind the glasses of milk on the Cadbury logo (I don't know if that is on Canadian chocolate bars). The title curdle also brings to mind the idea of milk.

The second poem "une douzaine de livres de brouillons scribblisme " calls to mind asemic writing, though due to the semiotic qualities of the images of books there is semantic content. The use of the term "scribblism" and the french language reminds me of early 20Th century modernism.

"Blob" and "Slash Drip up" both play with notions of legibility and are masterful and up to his usual excellent standards. I can personally recommend his book penny dreadful and I would like to at some point but some more of his books. He really is one of those visual poets whose work just blows me away again and again every time I see it.

Andrew Topel also does well on the examples show in this e-zine. His sequence called "scores" are a beautiful floating dance of letters and symbols that really make good use of the page as a space.

When I read word for/ word I don't read it in all one go, rather I savour it and read it over a few days. this is why it took me a while to mention it here. I recommend it.

Al the other vispoets are excellent . As is the code poetry feature.

The textual poetry sections is up to its usual standards . Good to see some prose poems there.
Adrian Lurssen is a good example. His poems are finely crafted Chinese puzzles that are very much stimulating.