At Egypt

by Clark Coolidge

Poetry. Clark Coolidge's 1988 book AT EGYPT is a single poem in eleven sections that treats travel as a source for the generative self. Coolidge gestures at his dissolubility as a traveler and, as such, a productive ability for complete re-generation of self "from inside the factory that changes it forever...into a recognizable but totally different shape"--Phillip Whalen. Coolidge marks "a monument and an alphabet" with AT EGYPT within "complexion, light diffused and reflected on sand"--Paul Hoover.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1988

About the author

Coolidge attended Brown University, where his father taught in the music department. After moving to New York City in the early 1960s, Coolidge cultivated links with Ted Berrigan and Bernadette Mayer. Often associated with the Language School his experience as a jazz drummer and interest in a wide array of subjects including caves, geology, bebop, weather, Salvador Dalí, Jack Kerouac and movies, Coolidge often finds correspondence in his work. Coolidge grew up in Providence, Rhode Island and has lived, among other places, in Manhattan, Cambridge (MA), San Francisco, Rome (Italy), and the Berkshire Hills. He currently lives in Petaluma, California.

Reviews

[Serena · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Things that lurk always watch
as if be seen be sure
the passage always ends in a death wall
beyond which holes in substance cannot take you
beyond which substance, that perfect, how particular
that plan to eat out the center of this earth
for a candy armadillo and his action stickfigures
the men are red as the women are white
and the further you go the more the snakes go out
till the herald cobra stitched to the sun disc dims
simply the notion that I was counting on
you remembering the names"

[Tucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A poet of this quality doesn't come around much, in the history of world! For me, he expanded the possibilities of syntax. He is really inspiration!

[Yousseif Abdellatif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honest reaction to At Egypt: I laughed, I winced, and then I texted my ex something I shouldn't have. Coolidge, Clark nails the awkward, petty, 2 a.m. energy of a breakup, especially the scene where the narrator drafts nine different "casual" texts and sends the worst one. It's funny, but it's also uncomfortably accurate. The plot wobbles in the middle, and a few jokes run too long. Great for anyone who's ever replayed a bad conversation for a week. Skip it if you're still too raw.

[Yousseif Abdellatif · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished At Egypt and honestly just sat there. Not because it was heavy, but because Clark Coolidge made something so ordinary feel so strange. It's quiet, odd, and a little unforgettable. Great for readers who like books that linger, a pass if you need something to happen.

[Restfulsimulation Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Book of Canvas
The Book of Gates
The Book of the Total Slab”