Whatever Stasis

by Chris Tonelli

Poetry. WHATEVER STASIS is Tonelli's second collection of poetry, one that finds that "beautiful and worthy subjects / are everywhere / which is / out of reach." Meditative, funny, at once searching and resigned, Tonelli shows us that "A poet / is the opposite / of god" in all the best slow and subtle ways.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2018

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spare, aphoristic poems seesawing between philosophical unknowables - time, death, failure - and mundanities, to drily humorous effect. Darker than it might seem on the first pass. If you enjoy Rae Armantrout - and you should - you will enjoy this.

From "What" (the book contains two poems titled "What" and one titled "Whatever"):

It's hard to say
how close to death you've come
while feeling confident.

It's hard to know
what not to
fend off.

[P.C. Moffatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read an earlier collection by the poet, I thought this would be more of the same. What a shockeroo --when I first opened the book, it felt like someone had gone wild with a ticket puncher drilling holes of white through the black text of poetry. But there was a rhythm, a minimalist abstraction in the harmonious white space, and a quiet strength in how the words claimed their occupancy on the page. And so I felt guided by someone who had mastered a different modality, a Morse code of meaning to thrum sense from chaos.

[Taylor Napolsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this twice—slowly, methodically—to soak it in. Tonelli has a knack for nailing a precise sound, and the geometry of the poems somehow manages to reflect the recurrences we see every day, in some way capturing life's pattern (which seems impossible I know!), and making at least a sliver of sense of it.

[Tom Ferr · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of poetry. The world looks a little sharper, and everything feels a little lighter after reading these poems. Sometimes saying a lot only takes a few words. Tonelli’s poetry embodies this.

[Courtney LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

This type of poetry just isn't my thing. Sparse poems without emotion, abstract observations that seem to have little meaning. While I liked some of the lines, I didn't like any of the poems as a whole and didn't feel pulled in or invested in any of them.

from Object: "There is / one object; there are / no distances. // You / are everywhere, / a proper noun."

from Them: "The unknown / is sacred; / don't insult it / by guessing."

from What: "A craving / is a kind of / propaganda. / We / do not repeat mistakes; / they / are a language / that survives in us."