Our Poison Horse

by Derrick Brown

Our Poison Horse is the newest poetry collection released by Derrick C. Brown. Brown is the winner of the Texas Book of The Year Prize, 2013. The New York Times calls his work a rekindling of the faith in the shocking, weird and beautiful power of words. Brown finally sold the ship, The Sea Section, upon which he lived for years in the Long Beach harbor, after which he took to hunting for a city that was affordable and had a bustling writer s community. He landed in Austin, Texas and when the progress of that town got to be intense, he moved to the nearby countryside in Elgin, Texas, and from that pastoral setting came unfurling this new collection of his most personal work to date. Brown has been known as one of the most touring, well travelled living poets in America. He has based his whole writing career on changing peoples minds about poetry and he feels a quality, unforgettable live experience can achieve that. Brown told himself he needed a 10-year hiatus from writing poetry when he felt the well of creativity had dried up. 2 years ago, he wrote a one-hour long poetic play called Strange Light, commissioned by The Noord Nederlands Dans Group in Holland. The piece was performed by 14 dancers and accompanied by a live orchestra using music composed by fellow Americans, Emily Wells and Timmy Straw. While he was working on a new libretto for Wayne State University in Detroit, he was set up in a seemingly pastoral country setting, where, as Brown says, an incredible war broke out inside and out, such bright, massive storms, snakes, guns, howling wind, hard sun: all kinds of poems gushed forth. I gave in to the process and my best work to date was born, this will be my 5th book. Our Poison Horse touches on more autobiography than the romantic and fantastical that was so present in his past work. In Derrick Brown s words: I found a poetry in the real events that shaped or broke me. Every morning, I would quiet down, stare out into the field where we were watching our neighbors horse, a horse that was poisoned with pesticide by some local boys, a horse with massive scars all down its body from it s skin peeling from the poison sprayed upon it maliciously by some bastard kids. I watched the horse heal and finally come to me, and trust me and eat carrots. Something about that horse, Lacey, about it not trusting me and then warming up pulled something out of me that I didn t know I was ready for. There is a theme that in beautiful places, you will"

Genres: Poetry

126 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2014

About the author

Derrick Brown, former paratrooper for the 82nd Airborne, gondolier, magician, and fired weatherman, now travels the world and performs his written work. From Long Beach, CA, he is dedicated to bringing American poetry into rock and roll status.

As a poet, he has toured or performed with Indie rock act, Cold War Kids, The Decemberists, Comedian David Cross, Richard Swift, Pink Mountaintops and at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival with the Flaming Lips and Animal Collective. His work has been featured in books with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, Jeff Buckley, Jack Hirschman, Amber Tamblyn and poet laureate Ted Kooser. He has performed at the largest outdoor festival in the world, Glastonbury, as an author.

As one of the most original and well-traveled writer/performers in the country, Derrick Brown has gained a cult following for his poetry performances all over the U.S. and Europe. A poetic terrorism group has taken to tagging his metaphors across the globe. About.com called his latest collection, Scandalabra, one of the best books of 2009.

To date, Brown has performed at over 1500 venues and universities internationally including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, La Sorbonne in Paris, CBGB’s in NYC and a small Jewish youth group in Glendale. He is the host of the variety show, The Lightbulb Mouth Radio Hour. Lightbulbmouth.com

Known for a moving show that incorporates poetry, minimalist music, and sound fx, Brown is unique for being an outstanding performer but is foremost a page poet. He is the president of Write Bloody Publishing, the first indie press to be reviewed with favor by Forbes magazine.

Derrick is available for booking performances, workshops, Master of Ceremonies, Master of Puppets as well as Host for shows and motivational-ish commencement speeches.

Reviews

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

A glorious new book from the incomparable Derrick Brown-- hopeless romantic, worldly optimist, American celebrant in this great rite called life. Cosmic and indecent, weird and hilarious, humble and glorious, motorcycled and recycled and always madly in love, he's an antidote to deadening cynicism and an enema for too cool for schoolness. This is about inappropriate singing, ridiculous longing, listing the best places to kiss in California (and in the very next poem, citing the worst--and many are the very same spots.) Humiliation and ecstasy. He's funny enough to do stand up, sexy enough to read out loud in bed. He'll crush your heart to dust and put it together again, with stars in the interstices.

Here's a bit of conversation on a plane with a kid eating nuts and "reading a cool pocket Bible". the poem/story is called "Hey Kid." They get on the subject of miracles when the poet talks to him facetiously about Moses and the possibility of feeding the Jews in the wilderness for 40 years… "…sounds super-crazy or just crazy crazy?"

He says, "I don't know. It was a miracle."

Do you like miracles, like believe in them now?

Hey kid teen says, "Yep. It's just more fun that way."

Exit science. Exit cynic, Exit mystery gloss. Exit upper class sneaky genitalia. [they've just seen two people coming out of the plane bathroom together.] I look out the window. Flight lends me an infinite concern for far away little things--swimming pools are tiny, sparkling rectangular crystals, are the things inside of salt.

I want to know even a small miracle and become brighter than space gold.

Hey kid. We, I mean scientists, just found out that gold comes from a collapsed star called a neutron star and came here on meteors. All the gold we have on this planet was born from the smash of dense stars billions of years ago. If you wear gold, you wear a piece of the most violent thing in our universe, a thing that was made in freaking outer space. Is that a miracle?

"Sure."

Hey kid doesn't say sure like a bored Sunday dad. He says it like he just saw the Grand Canyon one morning but works there and still isn't sick of it.

**********
A poem about young soldiers being teargassed to know how it feels, called "You Will Be Destroyed In Your Own Way" is a heartbreaker… It starts:

All the pictures I tried to take were too sudden
and poorly framed.
Half-faced soldiers.
Blurry telephone poles.
Too much ceiling, not enough body.

I'm 18 and don't know how to plan a shot.
I feel a thing, and I grab the thing
that captures the thing
and shoot.
You must be quick on the draw
because everything goes away
so fast.
I shoot with confidence and
confidence is nothing recognizable
nothing is recognizable.

I'm constantly making the world's worst film:
young men in green, same haircut,
loaded down with the loneliness
of dying towns.
the world won't remember their names.
Me neither.

They are going through the tear gas chamber today.
You have to take it all in.
You have to let it destroy some of you
so you can have confidence.
There is no other way…

**************

[Ronnie Stephens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Derrick C. Brown set out to take a break from poetry. Instead, he unwittingly put together what is almost certainly his most powerful collection to date. It has been my experience that many poets wane as they approach truly prolific output. Brown proves, yet again, to be the exception. This book is full of the weird and absurd, hallmarks of Brown's writing, but it also introduces a vulnerability that is rarely found in Brown's earlier work. This book is a conversation, a shared drink at a dusty bar somewhere off the beaten path. And, frankly, it's a conversation you'll want to be a part of.

[Taylor Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t know I could like poetry until I read Pamela August Russell’s B is for Bad Poetry. Her poems were short, funny, and she didn’t take herself so seriously. I thought that was going to be the only book of poetry I’d ever own.

Then I saw Derrick Brown live in Oklahoma City a few years ago. He was opening up for Amber Tamblyn in a tiny hipster church that doubled as a tiny hipster venue downtown. I was blown away immediately.

HIs poems were longer than I thought my attention span could handle, but I was hooked. He was funny and didn’t take himself too seriously but you could tell he took the art seriously, and I was surprised by how much I liked that. I thought poetry was inherently pretentious. Brown’s work broke through that cynicism.

I wanted to own this book because it included his piece, Sour Mash. I’ve listened to a live reading of it probably once a month. It’s on his site. You can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/goingdownswing...

Brown believes poetry can be for the working man. It’s not just for the snooty and snobby. He’s the Bruce Springsteen of poetry.

This book is a collection of sucker punches. So many lines really knocked me out.

I can’t get over the fact that I like poetry now. It’s embarrassing. Derrick Brown has ruined my cool reputation. I asked for this book for Christmas and when I unwrapped it everyone asked “what is it?” and I had to say “a book of poetry.” I’m afraid my family is going to bully me now.

But I guess it’s worth it for Sour Mash alone.

Incredible.

[Ashley Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was beautiful, hilarious, and an amazing read. It's currently my favorite poetry book, and I'd highly recommend it. The aspect of Brown's poems that I loved the most was his tendency to create stories with his poems. A flow was therefore created, and it made the reading of his cleverly crafted poems that much more interesting.

[David Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Derrick Brown has a tighter grip on his comical yet stirring style than ever before. He captures Texas, what it's like to be a poet, and retells snapshots of his life with the vigor and precision of a true talent with far too many drink tickets. Giggles, guffaws, and little wonders.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Derrick Brown is my spirit guide.

[Lorin Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought in The Wild Detectives in Dallas TX, 2015, my copy was pre-signed by the author with “nice face”.
Our Poison Horse is divided into six segments with titles like “Why Matt Takes Off His Shirt In Every Art Gallery” and beautiful title pages to boot.
Poems are full of imagery and introspection that occasionally dilutes meaning but there were also tons of lightning bursts like:

Fav quote: Hey kid doesn’t say sure like a bored Sunday dad. He says it like he just saw the Grand Canyon one morning but works there and still isn’t sick of it.

[bea]

to-read

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this from Derrick after seeing him perform live before a Eugene Mirman show. I love his style and his clear love of the sound of words. Hearing him speak helped understand the cadence of his poems, but even without that the writing is just so natural that the rhythm is clear. Though an English major, poetry is easily what I have the biggest trouble analyzing and enjoying. These transcended my own issues reading poetry and I loved his gritty, real, yet by no means hopeless take on modern life. I'll definitely be reading more of Derrick Brown's work.

[Wynne • RONAREADS · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm eager to read more of Derrick Brown, whose publishing company Write Bloody published Megan Falley's collection. There was so much to love about this collection, and I love the back story that inspired it and ultimately brought Brown back to poetry.