Tuesday, March 29, 2011

WANNA COME TO THE ATTIC FOR MOI DORIANS?

Thank you, Buffalo New York! Just found out that the newly-released Yellow Field, Spring 2011 issue carries a nice mention of one of moi 2006 books, The Secret Lives of Punctuations, Vol. I. I'm charmed by it, and so replicate it below. Thanks to Yellow Field "collator" and reviewer here Edric Mesmer:
The Secret Lives of Punctuations, Vol. I
Eileen Tabios             (xPress(ed), 2006)

Ever slow to catch-up, new to me is Tabios's first volume of Punctuations. (Was there ever a second?) Rife with the stuff of Language Poetry, disseminated here in the investigatory practices of a secular grammarian, Tabios takes for her organizing principle the diacritically punctual gesture--thus a poem like "; No Music in His Voice" may begin "; when accomplishing a portrait ends the relationship". Too Dorian for you? Supporting such columnar effects rids us of the indices of affectation; serials, editorial drafts, and asides open and flex here in the full catalog of our representational enquiring. Epigraphix and a healthy amount of notes at back lead the reader to consider the functional afterthoughts of "?"; the parenthetical series may dilate the eye, but these queries are most bountiful when considering the colon and double-colon: "pauperism: owlish symptom / mulatto: wineglass emphysema / concrete: argue requisite / ulna: weary median". I'm awaiting Volume II.

Hah. Better get crackin' on that second volume indeed! Until then, do feel free to sink into the cover image (of a painting by Eve Aschheim) -- I post it below as I keep thinking Mesmer's words fit the painted disciplined vortex below (what do you think?):

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