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The Line
Poetry. THE LINE extends in a series of interlocking prose poems, creating a strobe-like effect of intensely imagined moments shifting between sleeping and waking. Sharp, satirical, lush, or clear, the narrative voice twists through, seeking a line through time to braid its selves together. Moxley's intrepid language tosses us into the swim of new experience; into a bracing intimacy with the writing consciousness.
"Something about these poems is in flight 'from each new instance of daylight,' something in them is 'asleep before belief,' not wanting the onerous responsibility of adhering to or directly articulating beliefs. And yet there is a compelling playfulness and curiosity in the poems as they move from an anatomy of desire in the present tense to an exploration of the darkness of past and future, in their refusal to 'snuff out the metaphysical questions.' There is, finally, the courage here to 'enter the grave alone'...'In other words, [to] write.'"—Julianne Buchsbaum
"THE LINE extends in a series of interlocking prose poems, creating a strobe-like effect of intensely imagined moments shifting between sleeping and waking. Sharp, satirical, lush, or clear, the narrative voice twists through, seeking a line through time to braid its selves together. Moxley's intrepid language tosses us into the swim—into a bracing intimacy with the writing consciousness. These prose poems tell the story of sleeping and waking, of this very bout of writing, of the search for the line of time and the poet's immortality. THE LINE feels like a classic already, with its just words and its images suggested by sound and experience. It is a poetics but also a real, readable tale."—Alice Notley
"We're in the state between sleep and waking, where consciousness resists the tasks of reason and routine but instead views, from the perspective of darkness, the whole span from newborn promise to the old mammals' erosion of muscle. Moxley's usual keen intelligence here comes with an oneiric fluidity as it hunts through the perplexities of life for THE LINE from past to future, the line for words to form and, implicitly, the ideal line of verse these prose poems play against with their amazing leaps, sly humor, and complex inference. You'll wish the morning sun would not win out, the book not come to its end."—Rosmarie Waldrop
"Something about these poems is in flight 'from each new instance of daylight,' something in them is 'asleep before belief,' not wanting the onerous responsibility of adhering to or directly articulating beliefs. And yet there is a compelling playfulness and curiosity in the poems as they move from an anatomy of desire in the present tense to an exploration of the darkness of past and future, in their refusal to 'snuff out the metaphysical questions.' There is, finally, the courage here to 'enter the grave alone'...'In other words, [to] write.'"—Julianne Buchsbaum
"THE LINE extends in a series of interlocking prose poems, creating a strobe-like effect of intensely imagined moments shifting between sleeping and waking. Sharp, satirical, lush, or clear, the narrative voice twists through, seeking a line through time to braid its selves together. Moxley's intrepid language tosses us into the swim—into a bracing intimacy with the writing consciousness. These prose poems tell the story of sleeping and waking, of this very bout of writing, of the search for the line of time and the poet's immortality. THE LINE feels like a classic already, with its just words and its images suggested by sound and experience. It is a poetics but also a real, readable tale."—Alice Notley
"We're in the state between sleep and waking, where consciousness resists the tasks of reason and routine but instead views, from the perspective of darkness, the whole span from newborn promise to the old mammals' erosion of muscle. Moxley's usual keen intelligence here comes with an oneiric fluidity as it hunts through the perplexities of life for THE LINE from past to future, the line for words to form and, implicitly, the ideal line of verse these prose poems play against with their amazing leaps, sly humor, and complex inference. You'll wish the morning sun would not win out, the book not come to its end."—Rosmarie Waldrop
- GenresPoetry
54 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
43 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Moxley
29 books18 followersElectronic Poetry Center Author page:
http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/moxley...
http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/moxley...
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 26, 2024
oooh boy. the line between asleep and awake--each morning suspended between the two, you can choose to make your life. you can have any ritual you want. all action will unfold ceaselessly from this point, your head cradled, seeing faintly the future's thinning silk.
star-by-star stone-stepping
star-by-star stone-stepping
June 13, 2007
I just read half of this book today and it is amazing. I'll write more after I finish, but I say run right out and buy it! Moxley's got some real depth to the writing--I feel like each of the poems pokes at a little sore spot under my ribs. They are all prose poems. Here's the end of a poem called "Mystical Union":
You step off the curb into nothingness where the line offers itself to your hands. Grab hold or fall. Happy in the thought you might never recover you consign your trust to this flimsy thread that nobody else can see.
You step off the curb into nothingness where the line offers itself to your hands. Grab hold or fall. Happy in the thought you might never recover you consign your trust to this flimsy thread that nobody else can see.
November 1, 2007
Brilliant professor I had in college, the reason I love Schuyler and Weiners
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February 27, 2008Please see my review at CutBank Reviews: http://cutbankpoetry.blogspot.com/200...
September 11, 2014
Many, many of these with no deaths, no homicides, no bullshit.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews