The Stuff of Hollywood

by Niki Herd

In The Stuff of Hollywood , the camera is both a witness of truths and an instrument capturing the line between real and engineered violence. The Stuff of Hollywood is a meditation on the pervasiveness of violence in America. In this book-length poem, Niki Herd relies on various modes—images, prose, lyric and documentary poems—to reflect upon the quotidian nature of gun culture, police killings, and political unrest. A busy Waffle House, a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, inside an Uber on a Chicago street, readers are placed in various “film” locations and watch as America becomes a character in its own absurd movie. In one section, excerpted language from the continuity script of D.W. Griffith’s 1915 The Birth of a Nation is juxtaposed with text from the January 6 congressional hearings, suggesting a fragile line between real and engineered brutality. Herd interrogates empire and the ways in which violence is consumed and normalized. The Stuff of Hollywood is an elegy for a country that never existed beyond the screen.

Genres: Poetry

112 pages, Paperback

Published August 20, 2024

Reviews

[Maribeth Voss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not normally drawn to poetry but my mom pressed this into my hands and it left a big impression on me. I pass along her recommendation to pair it with Episode 81 of the Poetry for All podcast. I think it is a work to read then listen to. Then reread and relisten!

[Angry.Sad.Motivated · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Birth of a Nation/Jan 6 section - wow.

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book-length poem, the reportage of shootings seems as random as the gun violence in America. “There’s is no greater imagination than this violence,” the speaker states, so this bullet-riddled elegy for a country that “never existed beyond the silver screen” gets lost in a kind of nihilism. The collage of excerpts from The Birth of a Nation and the January 6 congressional hearings offers an absurdly thought-provoking comparison between gun culture and political unrest but requires its own continuity script to fully understand and appreciate.


Nada. &
there’s no speaker here. Just me, weighted, worn &
a liar to have thought a lifetime of tending words was of any real import.
—from “This Season of Despair,” p. 89


Favorite Poems:
“While Eating Pork Chops”
“This Season of Despair”
“In the Aubade for the Late Great Show”

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, haunting, rhythmic poetry.