Royals

by Cedar Sigo

"One finishes a poem feeling as though they have taken part in a singular event that can be returned and mined again and again without exhausting the kernel of mystery around which each poem swirls." — BOMB Cedar Sigo's fourth collection restlessly enacts the pleasures of writing. With a mix of condensed, syllabic poems and longer serial pieces, and with many poems addressed to other poets, Sigo explores the romance of being a poet while also drawing on the color and symmetries of the visual arts of his Native American identity. twin angels
at the impasse
stripping wire
out from
the earth
bolts of thunder pealed
from under the
falls
stones
thrown (from very high)
to form
a ziggurat
an hourglass
I almost forgot
to intone
Cedar Sigo was raised on the Suquamish Reservation in the Pacific Northwest and studied at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at the Naropa Institute. He is the author of eight books and pamphlets of poetry, including Royals, Language Arts, Stranger in Town, Expensive Magic , and two editions of Selected Writings .

Genres: Poetry, Gay

96 pages, Paperback

Published September 5, 2017

About the author

Born in 1978 on the Suquamish Indian Reservation in Washington State, Cedar Sigo studied at the Naropa Institute with Anne Waldman, Lisa Jarnot, Alice Notley, Joanne Kyger, and Allen Ginsberg, among others. His first book, Selected Writings (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2003), was reprinted in a revised edition in 2005. A writer on art, literature, and film, Sigo has collaborated with many visual artists and recently blogged for SFMOMA's Open Space. In June 2009, he gave a reading at New York's P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in conjunction with its Kenneth Anger retrospective.

Reviews

[Greg Bem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following up on the heels of 2014’s Language Arts, Cedar Sigo’s latest collection of poetry expands and grapples with identity, culture, and the American poetic canon. The poems of Royals feel familiar but also uniquely further along in Sigo’s experiences. And yet, going beyond the poet’s first books, Royals gifts the reader with longer, denser opportunities of exploring the subjects, with themes of greater bulk and heft. Viewed in totality, Royals is an expansive book, and a necessarily strong book carrying the weight of the history of an important American poetry to and the history of the self of Cedar Sigo.

(Full review here: http://yellowrabbits.weebly.com/revie...)

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a music in these poems that I could hear, but did not draw me in. The poems are compelling, but I could not connect.

[hh · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its wasn't a bad book of poetry, but nothing resonated with me...

[Alexandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this for a class. I tend to enjoy poetry, but I couldn’t really connect to this book. I’m not sure if it’s because our experiences are so different or what but the music in his poetry was not something I could understand.