Three poets I want so badly to see first full-length books from.
Julianne Neely – I am so excited every time I come across new work by Neely. It’s something about how she burrows into voice, that hum of voice that moves with inflection, implication of statement, association leading from thought to thought, or thought that immediately recognizes the incomplete nature of voice to thought. On her web site, she indicates she indicates an interested in the gendered self. Which makes me think of Lynn Keller’s Thinking Poetry (University of Iowa Press, 2010). Keller’s observation in 2010 about poetry that “transgresses the limits of intelligibility.” And then thinking of how this line of poetry has continued to innovate over the last ten years.
Gabriel Dozal – What a delight to see Dozal’s book, The Border Simulator (One World, 2023), getting published at the new Random House imprint One World! In 2018 and 2019, I had been tracking the appearance of these “Border Simulator” poems. The absurdity. The sharp political critique. The surreality that settles in the mind like reality. I can’t enthuse enough over this book coming out.
Amy Marvin – She’s so boring! And dull! Her poems are like wrapping a perfectly unfolded piece of aluminum foil with exclamation marks. And someone’s in the kitchen with you being like, “That’s dumb.” Her bio note at Prolit says she’s interested in waiting in bus stations. I would advise you, DO NOT READ “Cyborg Manifesto.” I know. I’m being ridiculous with all this. But when I read a poet who really endeavors on the invention that might exist in the mundane, I get very excited. There’s this part of Valerie Hsiung’s new book To Love an Artist (Essay Press, 2022) that does that. Like Hsiung could be blogging about productivity and focus. There’s a poem by Emilie Menzel in the recent issue of Bennington Review reporting on a rabbit trying to get into a closet. Marvin’s doing this flattening, and she’s needling at the whole neoliberal insulated culture.