I Hate Telling You How I Really Feel

by Nikki Wallschlaeger

I Hate Telling You How I Really Feel is the first graphic chapbook from Bloof Books, and the fourth in the 2015 series, containing 25 full-color photographs, plus 2 supplementary text pieces by poet-artist Nikki Wallschlaeger; released as a PDF in November 2016.

A selfie-by-proxy sequence of sorts, each portrait of the Julia doll (Mattel, 1969–1970, after the television series starring Diahann Carrol) combines the ultra-condensed gravitational effect of Wallschlaeger's poetry, the hyper-consumability of the internet meme, and a Warholian pop-art palette of color, repetition, and cultural reference.

Genres: Poetry

34 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Paul Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

"YOU NEVER KNOW / WHAT I'LL SAY NEXT" warns the back of the chapbook. Sly and unrelenting, the image of a poker-faced Julia doll hauntingly slideshows her way into the heads of readers, revealing her innermost concerns and pains. Depending on how you choose to hold/read the book, it can possibly offer a triptych-like functionality in which the plurality of the speaker is constantly reinforced by the presence of a resounding 'WE' on the left-most portion. That there is one speaker, but also: MANY. Thanks to careful, thoughtful design by Bloof Books, this impassioned meme-barrage will come at you in a spell-like color palette that Wallschaleger has described as "both what I’m consciously aware of and what is coming or not coming to the surface." Consider the murderous Chucky doll from the 'Child's Play' franchise... Now consider a doll that is fed up with any and all in-vogue-ness attached to Westernized canonical poetics and prepared to destroy white supremacy at any cost."

[Kat Dixon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lacks the punch of Wallschlaeger's full-length works. But the graphics are beautiful.