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Shell Game
Poetry. The first collection in fifteen years from a poet whose first book Stephanie Burt called "very personal, very appealing," SHELL GAME
by Jordan Davis presents a series of puzzles of feeling and mazes of history where the person speaking disappears into the world, and vice versa, without warning.
Starting against the backdrop of New York in 2001 and working back to the words that came into the English language during World War II, Jordan Davis's second book teleports to Turkey in the middle of the century in a series of poems reimagining the work of Orhan Veli Kanik as a New York School poet, then returns to reflect on the precarious present in which everything is at incredible risk, and trying to laugh about it.
In addition to "My Orhan Veli," SHELL GAME includes the sparkling long poems, "When I Was the Subject," "A Million Random Digits" and "The Throat," critical digressions on copyright, several brutal short poems, and at opposite ends of the book, two quantum-entangled baffling sequences about... quantum entanglement and bafflement, what else?
by Jordan Davis presents a series of puzzles of feeling and mazes of history where the person speaking disappears into the world, and vice versa, without warning.
Starting against the backdrop of New York in 2001 and working back to the words that came into the English language during World War II, Jordan Davis's second book teleports to Turkey in the middle of the century in a series of poems reimagining the work of Orhan Veli Kanik as a New York School poet, then returns to reflect on the precarious present in which everything is at incredible risk, and trying to laugh about it.
In addition to "My Orhan Veli," SHELL GAME includes the sparkling long poems, "When I Was the Subject," "A Million Random Digits" and "The Throat," critical digressions on copyright, several brutal short poems, and at opposite ends of the book, two quantum-entangled baffling sequences about... quantum entanglement and bafflement, what else?
- GenresPoetry
144 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 2018
20 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 11, 2019
Jordan Davis’s Shell Game makes me feel like I’m not bad at reading poetry, which is a rare feeling for me. It’s often funny, but there are some dark corners that must’ve taken some guts to put out there. Excellent collection.
December 24, 2019
Marvelous poetry. Worth every penny of your attention.
"Some days I turn completely blue,
some days the sun hits me from all sides,
some days I have no choice but surrender."
You can relate. I know you can.
These poems are wry, poignant, full of hairpin curves, engaging, and graceful in language. There is much to explore among them. I expect to revisit this book many times. You will too. Go on, buy a copy.
"Some days I turn completely blue,
some days the sun hits me from all sides,
some days I have no choice but surrender."
You can relate. I know you can.
These poems are wry, poignant, full of hairpin curves, engaging, and graceful in language. There is much to explore among them. I expect to revisit this book many times. You will too. Go on, buy a copy.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews