ghost machines

by Ben Mirov

Poetry. "Reading GHOST MACHINES, I am reminded of Brian Eno and David Byrne's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, J Dilla's Donuts, or DJ Shadow's Endtroducing... In these sonic works, archives reanimate into loop driven compositions that stave off endings. Refrain riddles these poems, deepening echoes that re-orient and destabilize. 'A frozen lung tree' a persistently repeated phrase, is an anatomical metaphor, an abstracted image of networks, part of a grotesque arbor but in all cases, unable to provide air, for us every tree's most vital fruit." from the Introduction by Douglas Kearney"

100 pages, Paperback

Published March 30, 2016

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is like Mirov's Metal Machine Music. But he's not releasing it to fulfill a contract (like Lou Reed was allegedly doing). I think he's purposely messing with us a little--like a robot took over his body and his Word documents. I love Mirov's other work and would still drive hours to see him read anything, but this one seems a little too flimsy and repetitious. I hope he makes it back to his body soon.

[Artemis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think I'm a very... sophisticated poetry reader. This was Weird. But it was also extremely compelling, like a mantra, or a synthwave song based on a few repetitive beats. The broken, fragmented, and recombined repetitive phrases felt like echoes and shadows - which were also major motifs in the poems - but also all together they formed this strong rhythm that really carried me along through the whole thing and left me with the feeling of a pulse in the dark and the cold. It was the poetry version of the feeling I get looking at huge abstract art installations in a sculpture park.

It was an interesting reading experience I didn't expect to like, but did.