Post Nativity

by Joe Hall

"It struck me as a cavalcade at the time, a declarative poem along the lines of Ginsberg’s Howl. It has a bit of the sacred, a little of the consumer wasteland, a touch of terrorism. Stunned, it marvels." --Adam Robinson

Genres: Poetry

20 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2012

About the author

Joe Hall is the author of five books of poetry, including Someone's Utopia (2018) and Fugue & Strike (forthcoming). His poems, reviews, and scholarship have appeared in Poetry Daily, The Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day, Postcolonial Studies, Peach Mag, terrain.org, PEN America Blog, Poetry Northwest, Ethel Zine, Gulf Coast, Best Buds! Collective, and Eighteenth-Century Fiction. He has taught poetry workshops for teachers, teens, and workers through Just Buffalo and the WNYCOSH Worker Center.

http://www.blackocean.org/hall/

Reviews

[Jamie Perez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adam Robinson said that this is why we there should be chapbooks (or something like that), and I agree.

I was just about to dig into Joe's new book (Devotional Poems, from the ever-spot-on Black Ocean) when I remembered that this chapbook had been waiting patiently for my attention for some time now. The pile of books next to the bed gets that way some times. Unbelievable awesome is always lurking in its depths.

Comparisons to "Howl" (from Adam) -- I wish I'd been at that Baltimore reading of this. Comparisons to Revelations (Latsky, maybe), totally. This sucker burns brightly, and could surely not burn any longer than it does.

"Make me the chamber for your cartridge" ... GODDAMN. I wish I had written that line / thought that thought. And in a poem with Virgin Mary / Jesus references - DOUBLE GODDAMN. (Sorry, Joe, I edited some words out of that line so it would make more sense here... but seriously, that is a killer and I plan on borrowing it when I need it.)

[Joseph Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

This chapbook was sitting around the house, given that my roommate is its publisher, and so I hadn't rushed to read it or anything. When I did get to reading it though, I thought, What the j*$us chr&%t were you waiting for? Small, short writings like this are often called 'gems' and so I won't call this little gem anything of the sort, just that it combines a really sophisticated network of symbols, feelings, ideas, etc with some crazy knockout language. In other words, it's really fine work.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Adam and Publishing Genius for turning this poem into a little book. Cheryl and I made a bookmark for every copy and a rosary for the first 15.
http://publishinggenius.com/?p=588

[Noah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely little chapbook filled with bursts of imagery, voice, and breath.