The Theory of the Loser Class by Fiorentino, Jon Paul (2002) Paperback

by Jon Paul Fiorentino

We are all entitled to our own hyperbole, especially you.Montreal has made a fool of me for the second last time.I’m not suggesting we’re all losersI’m insisting upon it.If the Anthony Michael Hall character in The Breakfast Club wrote poems (and, deep down, you know that he did), they’d probably read a lot like The Theory of the Loser Class. Drawing on texts ranging from Thorstein Veblen’s groundbreaking The Theory of the Leisure Class to Star Wars (the nerd Bible) for inspiration, this carefully crafted suite of poems documents the tribulations and insecurities of everyone’s inner geek. Fiorentino maps the psychic territory of abjection across the shopworn spaces of suburban Winnipeg, where a landscape of aging strip malls, burned-out houses and living rooms littered with video-game consoles serves as a mirror to the inner states of urban ennui among the socially inept and the culturally vexed.By turns compassionate, funny and filled with selfloathing, The Theory of the Loser Class is never without the possibility of redemption; ‘And if a loser falls,’ says the narrator of ‘Right in the Spine,’ ‘I feel it.’ ‘Fiorentino is in the midst of something grand.’ – The Globe and Mail

Genres: Poetry, Canada

Paperback

First published April 19, 2002

About the author

Jon Paul Fiorentino is the author of I'm Not Scared of You or Anything (Anvil Press) and Needs Improvement (Coach House Books). He is also the author of the novel Stripmalling which was shortlisted for the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction, and five poetry collections, including The Theory of the Loser Class, which was shortlisted for the A. M. Klein Prize and Indexical Elegies which won the 2010 CBC Books "Bookie" Award for Best Book of Poetry.

He has written for The National Post, Walrus, Maisonneuve, sub-Terrain, The Huffington Post, The Montreal Gazette, The Barnstomer, New American Writing, Hobo, Joyland, The Capilano Review, Event, The Winnipeg Review, The Queen Street Quarterly, fillingStation, Prism International, Opium and many other publications.

He lives in Montreal, where he teaches Creative Writing at Concordia University, is the editor-in-chief of Matrix magazine, is a poetry editor for Joyland, the poetry editor for the Snare Imprint of Invisible Publishing, and the fiction editor for the Serotonin/Wayside Imprint of Insomniac Press.

Reviews

[M.W.P.M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel naive for expecting more from a book of poetry entitled The Theory of the Loser Class. It's not that I dislike comedic poetry. But whereas ordinary poetry calls upon the author to be poetic, comedic poetry calls upon the author to be both poetic and have a sense of humour. By my evaluation, Jon Paul Fiorentino has neither. His failure may be attributed to his reliance on popular culture. References to the Star Wars character R2-D2 and the former talk show host David Letterman fall flat...

Tweet blip blip doot tweet blip blip doot beewoo
Deep vreee wop vreet; vree waap deep beep vreet woo
Twooo beep dee vroot vroop vreep burrwaap
Doop deep beewoo burrwaap vreet dooop - beewoo!
Beewoo whoot wop eeeet oooo burrwaap burrwaap.
Bwop bwoop blip breeet bip bop beep breeoo, breeoo
breeoo blip doot. Vreet tweet burr waap deep doop
burr waap breeeet vroot vroot beewoo beep braap woo.
Vreet deep! Vreet deep! Vroot bap beewoo breeoo!
Oooo breeet deep. Oooo breet deep. Beewoo bip bip.
Vroot bap! Vroot beep! Vreet beewoo bap breeoo!
Oooo bip whoot vroot whoot dee tweet waap bip bop.

Whootwhirr eeeet bip tweet blip woo beep breeoo?
Wop woo vreet oooo vroot beewoo braap burrwaap!
- Sonnet of R2-D2, pg. 26

*

This is the way my show goes:

I settle in the studio audience, back row
gonna shoot you like it's 1946

Halfway through the first segment
I shoot you with my thin revolver

Letterman hands you a towel
to soap up the blood

Commercial break

we're back
now you're behind the desk

Paul Shaffer revives you
with a prop defibrillator

Wearing blood-stained fake teeth
I'm in the guest chair

Time to say goodnight
- This is the way my show goes, pg. 38

Likewise, the author's references to tech culture and his "Binary Code Sonnet" fail to evoke anything that resembles amusement in this reader. But whether it is the author or the reader who is lacking a sense of humour will be left to the discretion of the reading public (the unprecidented number of positive reviews would affirm that your humble reviewer is the afflicted party)...

Sparring spores
compound stunners

A two-four of
isopropyl alcohol coolers

The skin
for basement clubbing

Lost elastic
home hub comfort

Zip disks call
their patronizing agents

Robots play, get
JumpDrive herpes

Software leaks all
over, all over
- Jumpdrive Herpes, pg. 22

*

1010101010100101001010010101010110001001010101001010100100101001010101010101010101010010110010101001010010100101010010100101010000101010110111011000100101110001010001001010100101001010100100101011101010101010010100101010100101001000110010010100010100101001001001010101001010100110101010100001101010011110000001010010101001010010101010010101010010101010101001010101010010101010101001010100101001010100100101010101010101010101010101010100101001001001010010001010010011010101010110101010100010101001010100010101001001001001011110010001
- Binary Code Sonnet 1.0, pg. 27

In summary, Jon Paul Fiorentino not only represents what is wrong with poetry, he represents what is wrong with our culture. I have not read his other collections and cannot comment on whether or not it is intentional (and, if so, what is the intention?). But it is my opinion that there is no justification for a poem as intellectually depraved as the "Sonnet of R2-D2".

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just could not connect to these poems. I felt I was missing a key piece that would allow me to connect to these poems but I could never find it.