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Category Archives for In Matrix 81
8×8×7 by Colin Smith
KRUPSKAYA, 2008
Read by Nick McArthur
In the acknowledgements page of his newest collection, Colin Smith describes his poem “Hoot,” as “a sculpting of Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Howl.’” Perhaps more specifically, the poem appears as a minimalist re-imagination of the Beat original; a distillation of Ginsberg’s epic into two or three word noun clauses, scattered across four pages, [...]
Woodshedding by S.E. Venart
Brick Books, 2007
Read by Jakub Stachurski
The term ‘woodshedding’ is archaic slang for sound parental thrashings, later adopted by musicians to denote arduous and solitary rehearsal or spontaneous singing. All three definitions are applicable to the poems in S.E. Venart’s first collection, as she contemplates parental folly and isolation, often in a confessional mode.
Families are Formed Through Copulation by Jacob Wren
Pedlar Press, 2007
read by Melissa Bull
“I think… this might sound crazy… I think, in the van, they have a machine: radio waves or microwaves. They have a machine that’s making me feel ill.”
The Jealousy Bone by Julie Paul
Véhicule Press, 2008
read by Carrie Schmidt
Julie Paul’s first collection of 14 short stories, though well-written, has its share of problems. There is repetition throughout the collection, and consistently unlikable characters. It is clear that Paul is a talented writer; dialogue flows naturally and she sets a scene well,
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy by Tao Lin
Melville House, 2008
Read by Aaron Giovannone
Over the last few years, Tao Lin’s blog (readerofdepressingbooks.blogspot.com) has cultivated a large following of fans, or as he has called them in one of his self-promotional web stunts, “Tao Lin Interns”. Lin’s transparent, funny, confessional style is well-suited to the online environment’s demand for immediate gratification, and judging by [...]
O Cadoiro by Erin Moure
House of Anansi Press, 2007
Read by Erin Gray
“All in all, we must confess that the cantigas present difficulties: problems with interpretation, ambiguities, confusing passages and points of obscurity.”
- Marques Braga, 1945
Erin Moure did not write O Cadoiro. Rather, she read it into being, gathered its contents from a wandering and a fall.
Living Things by Matt Rader
Nightwood Editions, 2008
read by Darren Bifford
Living Things is Matt Rader’s second book of poetry. The good poems in this book are very good—with the lesser poems standing as just good. They are technically accomplished and gritty, displaying something of a debt to Babstock and early Lowell. More than this, Rader’s book is the result of [...]
The Cult of Quick Repair by Dede Crane
Coteau Books, 2008
Read by Drew Halfnight
There is something womblike about the stories in Dede Crane’s new collection The Cult of Quick Repair. The warm prose washes over the reader like a benign amniotic fluid, and one has the sense, especially in the opening story “Seers,” which evokes the deep heat and soothing gyrations of an [...]