Measuring Tape for the Midwest

by Noah Falck

These poems first appeared in Bat City Review, Blazevox 2K6, Combatives, Columbia Poetry Review, Dusie, Nexus, Orpheus, Pilot, Redivider, Word For/Word and in the Cy Gist Anthology Face Time.

Noah Falck’s work appears in Gulf Coast, LIT, Columbia Poetry Review, Bat City Review, Good Foot, Redivider, Pilot, and POOL, among other journals. He is the author of the chapbook Homemade Engines from a Dream (Pudding House, 2007). He teaches Language and Thought in Dayton, Ohio.

32 pages, Chapbook

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Noah Falck is the author of Exclusions (Tupelo Press, 2020), Snowmen Losing Weight (BatCat Press, 2012) and the chapbooks You Are In Nearly Every Future, Celebrity Dream Poems, Life As A Crossword Puzzle, & Measuring Tape For The Midwest.

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mostly a humorous poetry collection but with elements of an eerie post bluetooth age lurking. No pussyfooting. Here is a poem from the collection, I don't think it is representative per se, as Falck does not fit that oft promoted model (find yr (singular) voice or die at the hands of an academy), but this piece seems near the center of expectation. Here goes!



Girl with Silver Pooper Scooper



She stared into my eyes
with the same look
that must have inspired the lyrics
of the Star-Spangled Banner.
If you could see the way
she tilted her head, her hair unraveling
or the way she gripped the handle
like an elegant English tea pot.
She had a look in her eyes,
a look that could get tax breaks
for the poor. She must have known
I was weak in the knees
or knew I’d mention
something about gas prices
or some other very lame
small talk audible
if given the opportunity.
I could tell she was enjoying
my eyes running up and down
the landscape of her body,
dancing with her every movement.
O, the way she bent to scoop
a tiny pile of dog shit into her baggy.
Her look was one of someone
familiar with Russian beauty salons.
She was 1/4 suggestion box,
1/4 menstrual cycle,
1/2 midnight PBS special.


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[Rauan · Rating 4 out of 5]

lots of really beautiful passages, many of which made me feel as though i was floating....

i especially enjoyed this book when there seemed to be less narrative or logical scaffolding... when the voice of the poems seemed to be going purely (or mostly) on feel.... and that, for me, is where they sometimes became magical......

[Brian Foley · Rating 4 out of 5]

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