Random Exorcisms: Poems

Lena-Miles Wever Todd Poetry Prize Series

by Adrian C. Louis

In his latest collection, Random Exorcisms, Adrian C. Louis writes poems with the rough-edged wit and heart-wrenching sincerity that make him one of the seminal voices in contemporary American poetry. Deeply rooted in Native American traditions and folklore, these poems tackle a broad range of subjects, including Facebook, zombies, horror movies, petty grievances, real grief, and pure political outrage. In a style entirely his own, Louis writes hilarious, genuine, self-deprecating poems that expel a great many demons, including any sense of isolation a reader might feel facing a harsh and lonely world.
In the poem Necessary Exorcism, the speaker exorcises himself, more or less, of his grief for his deceased wife. I made my choice so easily & picked red drama, the joyous pain of it all, he writes. Minor Exorcism: 1984 is one of a series of poems that contemplates the memories of small, simple mundanes, like catching a fish, until, My old heart is thrashing with / long-forgotten boyhood joy. Dog the Bounty Hunter Blogs confronts some of the cruel absurdities of reality TV, while Naked, Midnight, Sober, Facebooking expels a great many fearful things, including the fear of growing older. These are poems that make you laugh and cry, nod appreciatively, and then laugh just a little more.

Genres: Poetry

78 pages, Paperback

First published June 13, 2016

About the author

Adrian C. Louis is a Lovelock Paiute author from Nevada now living on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He has taught at Oglala Lakota College. His novel Skins (1995) discusses reservation life and issues such as poverty, alcoholism, and social problems and was the basis for the 2002 film, Skins. He has also published books of poetry and a collection of short stories, Wild Indians and Other Creatures (1996). His work is noted for its realism.

Reviews

[Superstition Review · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adrian C. Louis takes readers on a rollercoaster ride with his poetry collection Random Exorcisms. His use of first-person establishes intimacy between the narrator and the reader. Additionally, it sets a unique captivating voice for the collection, one that is humorous yet brutally honest, one that is aloof at times and suddenly strikingly grounded. Louis has an effective way of weaving his poems. Here we witness his powerful voice, brutal honesty, and juxtaposition, “Hurricanes. Tsunamis. Earthquakes. Random blizzards of crazed gunmen or GOP God-lies. The latest cataclysms make it briefly fashionable to weep & wail for Gomorrah in its newest name so, we do, we do in the sanitary sanity of Facebook updates. OMG. Now someone has posted a pic of a grizzly bear in a creek, holding a cell phone to its ear. Photoshop? Maybe, but now I’m fixated on being devoured by a grizzly.” One moment he’s joking around constructing abstract imagery and the next he’s writing passionate lines about life or politics. His poems span many topics including love, loss, sexuality, indigenous culture, the landscape, social media, nature, education, food, and the environment. Louis’ use of humor and sincerity when discussing these are what make his collection worth reading.
By Claudia Estrada

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I owe the poet Martín Espada for a great many things in my life, and one of the pivotal things on that list is the fact that he introduced me to the writing of Adrian C. Louis back in 1994. That Louis' work is not better known and more widely celebrated in this country is no surprise to me, given that we are a nation that celebrates the brand-banalities of Billy Collins. If you haven't read Adrian C. Louis and you bought this book, don't stop here: read them all.

Adrian Louis is a poet who looks deeply within himself, and who writes searing, clear-eyed vivid poems about things that actually matter in the lives of human beings. Random Exorcisms is a poignant collection that, in its strongest moments, reminds us how to stand in the wake of great loss. His work serves as a reminder that those things that kill the people around us who we love do not have to cripple us or leave us destroyed; they can also become works of art that celebrate pain and transform it. These poems are often funny and profane, critical and arch, but they are always real, and coming from a real place in a real person. I can't wait to read his next one.

[Caleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first encounter with Adrian C Louis, and it won't be my last. The poems that make up RANDOM EXORCISMS are filled with a gritty reflectiveness and an acerbic humor fans of Charles Bukowski, Dan Fante, Harry Crews et al. can appreciate while savoring Louis' singular style. Throughout the collection, Louis gives us a striking depiction of the rustic Midwestern and Native American landscapes as well as his own emotional landscape following the passing of his wife. Other memories of decades past are also "exorcised," masterfully interwoven into the occurrences and observations of the poet's current daily life, giving the language a dream-like/stream of consciousness quality. Faulkner said, "The past is never dead. It's not even the past." I feel Louis' poetry is a testament to this famous quote, but it's also much more: introspective to the human condition, confrontational, quirky, heart-wrenching, but tough-skinned and gut-level honest, through and through. Check it out. You won't be disappointed.