SPENDING IS GOOD FOR THE ECONOMY, REMEMBER? A Few New Books Received

Wow, since I haven't really corresponded with any of you other than thru blogging since my mom died and reclusiveness has been particularly strong, I've nonetheless received some beautiful gifts that I hope to blog about, if not downright fully "review" in the coming weeks. This is the first of a couple posts, as these aren't all the books, but the first I pulled off the pile. So more to come... Of note here:

--the complete (or close to) series of works by Portuguese & Spanish-language poets, translations by  Chris Daniels, distributed thru his press Cultural Narcissism. Particularly interesting so far is a chap collection from poet, Orides Fontela--"Collected Poems."  

--Chris Daniels's own work, the poem cycle Porous, Nomadic. From Artfoil, letterpress cover. This book is intimate while still being a political gut punch. The density and range of the work makes me want to use the word "beautiful," and so I will, where textual form ranges from the found to the lyric to the reportage and back. And neither is it didactic. Some of the sections are simply gorgeous. And the work, tho when you first read it might look collagist, it isn't. It's more tightly woven than that, and one hears that, so read aloud friend. I had the pleasure of hearing Daniels read the whole chapbook when we brought him to Evergreen for a PRESS event. 

--Anamorphosis Eisenhower by Sam Truitt, out of Lost Roads. Now, I haven't read this book yet, but knowing Sam's later work (Vertical Elegies, the series, is full and maximal), knowing Sam (who is thus likewise, and much more!), and knowing that Peter Gizzi writes a blurb on the back that's about to come off the page with excitement, I'm looking forward to it. BOLO: we're hoping to get Sam and his Eisenhower out here for a PRESS reading sometime in the later spring.

--Vocoder by Judith Goldman out of Roof Books. I've read a few of these poems and they are as eviscerating as they are inventive. Goldman's work is important to my own, has made a deep impression on me over time, and so I expect Vocoder will be another such book the forms and concerns of which I try to imitate to no avail.

--Zine Chapbook by Lara Durback, the book sent to me by David Buuck, who thought I'd love it. Well, I'm just looking it over now, so I won't say much till I write on this manifold work in another post. Suffice it to say it's one of the reasons I am wide awake at moment. This book is exciting. A union organizing committee meeting in which leaked memoranda are discussed, strategies for the oncoming anti-union campaign are developed, inoculation occurs, etc--all of it written out, filed along with the memos themselves, then translated into essay on labor and the corporate body, then distilled into poetry, then transliterated back again--several times--until all these categories are replaced by the words "sensuous indictment." What a fucking book. Speaking of which, last line (sorry to give away the ending): 

            A corporation and a body.

Thanks, David. I'll email you soon to say the same thing. And that your fantastic piece "Side Effect Master" is not easily performed. It does go well with Gaburo, however.

Finally, a new book I haven't yet gotten, but one that I will get. From Christian Peet of Tarpaulin Sky Press, the chapbook "Pluto: Never Forget." Published out of Interbirth Books. Here's some of the info, from Christian:

"Pluto: Never Forget," published

by Interbirth Books in very limited, hand-bound hardcover and soft editions.

http://interbirthbooks.com

Interbirth's book are gorgeous. Check out their catalog. Be on the lookout
for their next, too...