The Popedology of an Ambient Language

by Edwin Torres

Poetry. Using "ambient language"-fragments, excerpts, stage directions, echoes, conversation snippets, syntactic undulation, and rigorous sonic chaos-Edwin Torres creates an alchemy of language, what he calls "electrobabble" and "algorithmictotem." Amid the fast-paced frenzy of his lyrical style, Torres finds an excited reason for hope and purpose: "one by one/ the rhythmic yuwanna/ will climb the fearist/ the murmuring yugottit/ will find the liminal/ the metronomed howboutit/ will catch the kicker." Amid such restless verbal motion, things will happen, things must happen; as order will emerge from disorder, a sense of calm gradually suffuses THE POPEDOLOGY OF AN AMBIENT LANGUAGE. "This all impossible/ But I appear it on page, so/ Becomes possible on way-through page."

Genres: Poetry

177 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Edwin Torres is a former New York State Supreme Court judge and author, who wrote the 1975 novel Carlito's Way. His book was the basis for the 1993 movie of the same name, starring Al Pacino, and for the 1979 book After Hours, the sequel to Carlito's Way.

In 1958, Torres was admitted to the New York State Bar. In 1959, as an assistant district attorney, Torres participated in the prosecution of Sal "the Capeman" Agron. Shortly thereafter he became a criminal defense attorney.

In 1977, Torres was appointed to the New York State Criminal Court. In 1980 he was selected to the State Supreme Court, where he served as a justice in the Twelfth Judicial District in New York City. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over felony cases, and Torres presided over a number of high-profile murder cases.

He retired from the bench in 2008 and since then has served on the New York State Athletic Commission.

A film adaptation of Q & A was released in 1990, directed by Sidney Lumet, and it starred Nick Nolte and Armand Assante. "After Hours" was filmed in 1993, but used the title Carlito's Way to avoid being confused with Martin Scorsese's 1985 film After Hours.

Reviews

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is hard for me to rate. I was given this book by a friend because I’m in my poetry appreciation era, but I think this is either 1) Not my thing 2) not great 3) poetry on hard mode. Some things I did appreciate: the overlapping theme of interference, both with language, sound, and visuals. This book is an experience, and in that, it’s great poetry. Content-wise, I’m at a loss, but I at least dabble enough in surrealism in other media to kind of know my way around. As I said in a totally unrelated book review earlier this year, I do have some linguistic experience, and I think for linguistics enthusiasts, this is probably a great collection. I focused more on sound, satisfaction, feeling, and memory than the words themselves. However, as I’m exploring new poetry for myself, I think I prefer a little more intention with the semantics than the style. Great line to sum it up: “see…I invited difficulty but meaning is real crashes of party.” Oh hell, have another: “poet is citizen of the world, whose only border is page…interference with nation by way of freedom.”

[Brandon · Rating 1 out of 5]

No...no...no...never again.