Author Spotlight
“I am in the air right now”: A Review
Kathryn Regina’s I am in the air right now (see publisher details page, which includes a brilliant promo clip by the great Greg Lytle) concerns, for me, weightlessness induced by the heavy feelings we carry. This paradox Regina sets up is a great formal device. Through the collection of poems, we come to learn of the narrator and her ‘fall out’ (that’s my pun) with a boy named Pedro while in a hot air balloon.
Regina’s writing brings to mind the phrase ‘soft surrealism’ (Shane Jones does too), in which the prosaic world is described slightly askew; the components are recognizable, but something is off. (I say ‘soft’ because a lot of surrealism stems from a European heady-ebullience which is contrast in tone.) This ‘offness’ is full of perfect small epiphanies of perception (culled from different poems):
i met pedro in the air. he was collecting letters. he was assembling pieces of cloud.
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do blue eyes surface in a baby the way hot air rises?
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east is going extinct
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this hot air balloon has a flat tire and a false bottom.
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there is a funeral in my kneecap.
The first piece, “Interview with a Hot Air Balloonist,” has a quirky humor to it. (“Q: Why did you become a hot air balloonist? A: Someone stole my bicycle.”) The ending’s abstract ‘punchline’ is handled wonderfully, evoking space beyond the text. This piece really gives the collection breadth.
Obliquely inserted, accompanying the collection/story, are a bear (I will admit I was not thrilled by another post-Tao Lin bear appearing in poetry), a midwife, an auto-mechanic, a candy-striper, and other vivid characters. One soon suspects the cast is self-summoned by the narrator for the lonely balloon ride.
As we move along, it becomes unclear if Pedro is the narrator’s ill-fated suitor, or if it was some other boy (“when i loved you i was thinking of someone else”). The emotional ambivalence, unfortunate for love lives, makes for great material.
Mark Rothko’s paintings dealt timeless landscape-embedded horizons; the two blurry bands of color lounging in our heads as surrogate land and sky. His lament (suicide) was/is pedestrian and flightless. It is fitting that our narrator (Regina?) had a ‘brief affair’ with him.
Regina has two things which are rarely put together: sharp humorous wit along with a poetic/philosophical vision of the world. The borderline melodrama is quickly counteracted by a well placed wise-crack. She is a bright calming heavy light sad and funny voice. I am in the air right now is written with a generous, thus often hurt, heart. This collection is a reprieve from gravity. Kathryn, come down, oh come down, but slowly.
Tags: Greying Ghost Press, i am in the air right now, kathryn regina, surrealism
I ordered this. I’m going to smell the paper.
I ordered this. I’m going to smell the paper.
as did i and as will i. i will hold the mailman ransom with a whip and a spork until i get my copy. on the note of paper and the olfactory, the kid a album jacket is probably the best paper you will ever smell.
as did i and as will i. i will hold the mailman ransom with a whip and a spork until i get my copy. on the note of paper and the olfactory, the kid a album jacket is probably the best paper you will ever smell.
Sounds totally banal to me. I wouldn’t order it unless you held a gun to my baby’s head.
Sounds totally banal to me. I wouldn’t order it unless you held a gun to my baby’s head.
holy shit hyo you’re a bitch
holy shit hyo you’re a bitch
Wow. Why can’t she just have an opinion? It usually goes, if you’re in a room of people who love pizza, really enjoy pizza, and they’re gushing over everything about pizza, and someone looks up and says, “I wouldn’t let pizza eat my vomit. Pizza is nasty shit.” They’d get these weird reactions. Hatred even. An even dosage of antithesis of the exact feelings these people feel towards pizza. They end up matching the odd-person’s distaste for pizza with their own hatred or distaste for this person.
No one asked me, but I usually shrug and nod my head, and ask, “Why?” Unless they’ve already made that clear. After that, I sometimes give my opinion, even if no one asked, because who the hell waits for someone to ask for an opinion of them? What’re we, robots?
Wow. Why can’t she just have an opinion? It usually goes, if you’re in a room of people who love pizza, really enjoy pizza, and they’re gushing over everything about pizza, and someone looks up and says, “I wouldn’t let pizza eat my vomit. Pizza is nasty shit.” They’d get these weird reactions. Hatred even. An even dosage of antithesis of the exact feelings these people feel towards pizza. They end up matching the odd-person’s distaste for pizza with their own hatred or distaste for this person.
No one asked me, but I usually shrug and nod my head, and ask, “Why?” Unless they’ve already made that clear. After that, I sometimes give my opinion, even if no one asked, because who the hell waits for someone to ask for an opinion of them? What’re we, robots?
Calling something “banal” isn’t having an opinion. It’s being dismissive.
Calling something “banal” isn’t having an opinion. It’s being dismissive.
it’s about intent michael. hyojung went out of her way to insult regina’s work.
famous people or journals are fair game, but saying this comment in a book review by someone who is not famous is just mean.
it’s about intent michael. hyojung went out of her way to insult regina’s work.
famous people or journals are fair game, but saying this comment in a book review by someone who is not famous is just mean.
aw, it’s cool. i thought hyo was funny. but i also maybe enjoy abuse.
jimmy, thank you. audri and david, thank you thank you.
aw, it’s cool. i thought hyo was funny. but i also maybe enjoy abuse.
jimmy, thank you. audri and david, thank you thank you.