February 22nd, 2011 / 3:49 pm
 Author Spotlight

“The universe wants something that is in me / but not what I have in me to give. / Let me tell you: I haven’t whispered right in years.”

Why there aren’t Jordan Stempleman fan clubs in every open field—fan clubs that would consist of an abandoned Astro Van, painted with blue and yellow racing stripes, almost hidden among the tall stalks under a sunset somehow permanent, while inside the Astro Van is a photograph of the same field and Astro Van under an even more beautiful sunset, a photograph the fans inside the Astro Van try to avoid looking at (but when we do we can’t help but shake our heads) while meanwhile they are either trying to scratch out every reflective surface until it’s not reflective or polish every unreflective surface until it is reflective (we can’t decide), and even meanwhiler crows live their whole productive lives on top of the Astro Van because above all it makes for a meek scarecrow, why there aren’t Jordan Stempleman fan clubs like this—well, it’s beyond me. Here are four sets of decontextualized lines from Jordan’s new chapbook Wallop (from Grey Book Press) :

1

One out of five people applying for citizenship
today secretly wish they were applying
to live in a forest just outside the country
to which they’ve applied,
where they could still see the lights
from the largest cities at night

2

Was that the tenderness people always talk about
or just a bad cold?

3

Health happens like this:
there are stupid things
we put in us.
Some of these things go from stupid to nothing.
A few never leave.

4

… It’s like a road of pine trees
that first say no to the car, no to the bike, no holding hands
to make your way through this rowdy, timeless path.

Tags:

21 Comments

  1. February 22nd, 2011 / 9:10 pm Anonymous—

      this is awesome. jordan, you’re awesome.

  2. February 23rd, 2011 / 12:23 am Jeremiah—

      Excellent excerpts, Mike. Thanks for shining the spotlight on the Astro Van shaped hole in my field of vision.

  3. February 23rd, 2011 / 1:01 am Ken Baumann—

      Yes.

  4. February 23rd, 2011 / 1:01 am Ken Baumann—

      Yes.

  5. February 23rd, 2011 / 1:50 am Kristen Iskandrian—

      I’d be in a JS fan club, based on these.

  6. February 23rd, 2011 / 1:52 am Kristen Iskandrian—

      to qualify, I’d want to be in the photograph of the fan club part of the fan club.

  7. February 23rd, 2011 / 1:52 am Kristen Iskandrian—

      to qualify, I’d want to be in the photograph of the fan club part of the fan club.

  8. February 23rd, 2011 / 2:17 am Mike Young—

      it’s like Back to the Future, you’re always in the photo if you remember not to make out with your mom

  9. February 23rd, 2011 / 4:28 am Anonymous—

      vipstores.net

  10. February 23rd, 2011 / 1:37 pm Jack M—

      Wonderful use of language. This is poetry at its best. Thanks for introducing me to a writer that I would otherwise have missed.

  11. February 23rd, 2011 / 3:56 pm Yfty—

      vipstores.net

  12. February 23rd, 2011 / 5:53 pm Mark Folse—

      Enough of a taste for me to order. Hey, no shipping charge, either.

  13. February 23rd, 2011 / 6:59 pm bvllets—
  14. February 23rd, 2011 / 10:23 pm Jack Boettcher—

      Wow, that first section is the best use of the “one out of x statistic” trope I have seen in a long time. This is great stuff.

  15. February 23rd, 2011 / 10:59 pm mark leidner—

      i am chased by a question these days that is slow as a cow
      but that doesn’t sleep or stop for breath

      p. 19

  16. February 23rd, 2011 / 10:59 pm mark leidner—

      i am chased by a question these days that is slow as a cow
      but that doesn’t sleep or stop for breath

      p. 19

  17. February 24th, 2011 / 1:44 am Fy—

      vipstores.net

  18. February 24th, 2011 / 12:27 pm math—

      damn

  19. February 25th, 2011 / 1:14 am Ytftyf—

      vipstores.net

  20. February 25th, 2011 / 4:55 am Ytfty—

      vipstores.net

  21. February 25th, 2011 / 4:58 pm Janey Smith—

      Mike? Janey Smith liked this.