Lessness

by Brian Henry

Poetry. In LESSNESS everything is in ruins--machines, landscapes, buildings, bodies, histories, language. In terse elegies and effaced text, Lessness forces us to question the body, and through it the stability of the knowable. All builds toward a lengthy, strangely gentle "wreckage," where the surrender to inevitable infestations does not negate small triumphs.

Genres: Poetry

112 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2011

Reviews

[Andrea Blythe · Rating 3 out of 5]

The poetry here is of a more post-modern cerebral variety, not so much providing emotional oomph, but rather more of an intellectually isn't that neat. Absence, what is unsaid, blankness, erasure, as the title implies is as important as the visible words on the page. Many of Henry's poems drift across the page in jagged lines, leaving visual white space abounds, while many other poems have words and phrases blacked out, omitted, and still others feature lines crossed out by still visible. What is said, what isn't said? What's more important?

I'm not sure there's an answer, and Henry doesn't give you one, purposefully not connecting the dots, but rather colliding phrases in ways that makes you sure something is missing and then leaves it to the reader to determine if and what it is.

I think this kind of poetry is perfectly fine, and I'm certain there are a number of readers who would be jazzed by the intellectual spirals this kind of work could create, however, it doesn't resonate for me on anything more than a "that's neat" level. I read through the book fairly quickly, and with the exception of one or two poems, found not much that lingered after I put the book down -- another form of "lessness", I suppose.

[Luke Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poems in this book are divided into four sections. I didn't care for the first two. There were lots of redactions, odd enjambments and other devices that, for the most part, didn't meaningfully enhance the poems. If anything, they seemed to have been added just to make the poems seem edgier. The third section was a home run. Henry starts off with a maniacally subversive "Aubade" and the collection climaxes with the forceful "Even / Even." The fourth section, mostly sound poetry, was hit-or-miss. I recommend reading only sections three and four.

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poetry books lead to almost impressionistic reviews. This book deals with the concept of things decaying, disappearing, loss. The pages are filled with space, words are crossed or blotted out. The poetry itself seems to be devolving. Really well done, the language is powerfully compressed and at times beautiful. Overall, more accessible than much of modern poetry and worth seeking out!