Author Spotlight
The Life-Affirmier side of Rant
the gooey, somewhat sexual insides of this grapefruit are like the gooey, somewhat sexual insides of all our hearts. Photo (c) Julia Cohen.
Regular readers of this blog know that Julia Cohen is a frequent target of my admiration, but she gets special attention today for this awesome blog post, which starts off with portents of a not-good-news confession, then quickly becomes an apocalyptic screed, and then somehow finds itself soaring into an affirmation of why we all participate in the conversation of Arts & Letter, as well as a sort of declaration of her personal poetics and an expression of gratitude and thanks “to everyone who works in a creative medium.” Then to really round things out, there are two pictures of a bed designed to look like a cheeseburger. Anyway, you should take a minute and now and go read the whole post, which packs a lot of heart into a not-a-whole-lot of space, but here’s my favorite part:
Reading experimental poetry, listening to music, seeing a film or an art show, or reading theory that puts something in this world that is beautiful, constructive, advances dialog and new avenues of understanding- these are the moments that make me feel we, as humans, can provide something positive that would not exist on this planet without us. That’s the glow. For poetry, I’m intrigued by work that dismantles and then plays with the un-gendered “I,” that explores new forms of address, reckoning, and evinces culpability for the human and non-human other. Through new communication via what some may call anti-narrative, the links between fragmented image, quiet but firm declarations, and the transitive property of memory in complimenting and translating subjective experience to an other. Works that are about inclusive resistance and inclusive revolt, that emanate a destabilizing yet regenerative force, that may on the surface look surreal though are anything but.
I think it’s fascinating that one of the most talented, compelling and elusive poets I know (or know of) should somehow come to produce some of her most nakedly earnest and straightforward utterances in the course of articulating the value of art that fragments, challenges, “dismantles” or otherwise subverts conventional notions of narrative and meaning. This paradox seems, to me at least, to be exactly the point.
*****SPECIAL JULIA COHEN BONUS SECTION*******
Remember last week, when I liked Cohen’s chapbook, The History of a Lake Never Drowns ?
Three of her poems in diode v1n3
Cohen co-edits Saltgrass, which has a new issue (#3) out, which I’ll probably blog about at some point in the future, probably about two days after whenever she gives me a copy of it.
Cohen at the KGB Bar, with Paige Taggart (left), 10/08. Photo (c) Star Black.
Tags: affirmation of values, experimental poetry, julia cohen, on the messier side of neat
as always, thanks for that, stomach heart. that’s julia, the ultimate reality star.
as always, thanks for that, stomach heart. that’s julia, the ultimate reality star.
Giant Grapefruit of our longing. Cheeseburger Bed of our most intimate feelings. Thank you, Julia Cohen. Get on it, Internets.
Giant Grapefruit of our longing. Cheeseburger Bed of our most intimate feelings. Thank you, Julia Cohen. Get on it, Internets.
A little off topic rant, I’m thinking, begins now.
I too, am saved by the connective glow, the fleeting positivity I feel
for humanity keeps me cranking and possibly cranky. For all our
intrinsic bumbling and insecurity and egocentric scheming it is a
miracle of randomness that we do connect and love and burst inside of
each other. I guess I don’t expect humans to do this easily, I don’t
know that we’ve ever cultivated that end to our fullest capacity, we
are in a civil infancy, I think struggling with and being ashamed of
the selfishness of our selfhood is a modern affair (equality, social
democracy, other achievables). To me, that means we are elevating the
heart / slowly slowly slowly. Any new found efficiency, our just heat
and serveness, maybe that can help advance dialogue, pave those
avenues of understanding. I just want to stick up for technology–as
it develops so can/might/does our civic mindedness.
In similar affairs, this song with make you dance: Give Me the Night by George Benson.
A little off topic rant, I’m thinking, begins now.
I too, am saved by the connective glow, the fleeting positivity I feel
for humanity keeps me cranking and possibly cranky. For all our
intrinsic bumbling and insecurity and egocentric scheming it is a
miracle of randomness that we do connect and love and burst inside of
each other. I guess I don’t expect humans to do this easily, I don’t
know that we’ve ever cultivated that end to our fullest capacity, we
are in a civil infancy, I think struggling with and being ashamed of
the selfishness of our selfhood is a modern affair (equality, social
democracy, other achievables). To me, that means we are elevating the
heart / slowly slowly slowly. Any new found efficiency, our just heat
and serveness, maybe that can help advance dialogue, pave those
avenues of understanding. I just want to stick up for technology–as
it develops so can/might/does our civic mindedness.
In similar affairs, this song with make you dance: Give Me the Night by George Benson.
yesterday while washing dishes i was thinking how i’m grateful for html giant and online journals and the presence of other literary folks online, and how even though i hardly leave the house i can just get on the computer and travel to those places. i think i get sentimental most often these days when washing dishes, which is weird because i hate washing dishes.
sommer:
‘a miracle of randomness that we do connect and love and burst inside of
each other.’ that sounds gooey and fun and exotic like the insides of that grapefruit.
yesterday while washing dishes i was thinking how i’m grateful for html giant and online journals and the presence of other literary folks online, and how even though i hardly leave the house i can just get on the computer and travel to those places. i think i get sentimental most often these days when washing dishes, which is weird because i hate washing dishes.
sommer:
‘a miracle of randomness that we do connect and love and burst inside of
each other.’ that sounds gooey and fun and exotic like the insides of that grapefruit.
Sommer- I don’t think that’s off-topic at all.
Sommer- I don’t think that’s off-topic at all.
Sommer said “burst inside each other.”
Hnh huh.
Sommer said “burst inside each other.”
Hnh huh.
hmmmm. perhaps sticking my dick in a piece of fruit wouldnt be that bad.
hmmmm. perhaps sticking my dick in a piece of fruit wouldnt be that bad.