FAQ:

by Ben Doller

Poetry. Thank you for your question. In this book of answers, Ben Doller (ne Doyle, author of Walt Whitman Award-winning book Radio, Radio) molds a speaker confident in his own impertinence to the form of an FAQ culture, participating in an all-pervasive, invasive questioning--ultimately raising questions about voice, knowledge, and our speakers/our selves. Bending but not breaking to the form, this book of poems takes a turn for the novella, busting open the prose poem and walking the dotted yellow line in the headlights of an increasingly invisible interviewer. "We ask all the wrong questions, of course. In the sharp, sad, funny poems of Ben Doller gives us more answers than we bargained for. He gives me some answers I wish I'd thought of How do you feel? `I feel nice, I just now stepped upon a conveyor walkway. Sugar and spice'"--Rae Armantrout.

Genres: Poetry

76 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2009

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some head scratching poems here, some of which I really liked and some of which I thought were sort of arbritrary, as if they were forced into being FAQs rather than actually growing out of that experiment (that's what I take it as, at any rate, a machine that is supposed to generate these poems). The weirdest part to me was that the questions that generated the poems is listed as an index at the back of the book (though not the page #s per question, so there's some mystery, I guess). It's a weird half-gesture, a concession to readers that sort of surprised me after the opacity of the book otherwise. Most sort of disappointing thing about the book: how little range of response Doller gets out of the form-- lots and lots of prose poems, couple paragraphs, some stuttering syntax.... I get it that he has a style, we all do. But using an artificial form like the FAQ is, at least potentially, a way to sidestep style and force yourself as a writer to confront new stuff. There's not a lot "new" here, but instead some pretty deep ruts. It makes the book's conflict one where Doller's style defeats the machine he set it against-- I'm tempted to say I wish he'd gone back and built a better machine and that I'd read that book instead.
My bitching aside, lots here to really like; the broken syntax is maddening, sure, but often really appealing, too. Some funny bits, too.

[Katelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Doller takes questions that no one ever asks, treats them as a FAQ and takes readers into a wild, dream-like poetic dimension that is at times hilarious and poignant. Brilliantly written.

[Don Gochenour · Rating 5 out of 5]

My god, this book is awesome.