Under Glass

by Gregory Kan

A colossal jungle. Two suns. The sea on fire. If the mind were a place, what might it look like? Under Glass is an ambitious new collection by one of the most exciting young poets writing today. "The things that are really big and really close are too big and too close to be seen." Gregory Kan’s second book is a dialogue between a series of prose poems, following a protagonist through a mysterious and threatening landscape, and a series of verse poems, driven by the speaker’s compulsive hunger to make sense of things. Kan’s explorations of the outer and inner landscapes frequently cross paths but leave the reader in doubt—this is a collection full of maps and trapdoors, labyrinths and fragmented traces. Under Glass opens up new ways of telling stories—while questioning the value of storytelling itself. Beautifully crystalline and emotionally powerful, this poetry collection takes readers on a journey that is frightening yet tender, imperfect but triumphant.

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published January 1, 2019

Reviews

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This dude is a masterful poet. Utterly masterful. Looking forward to third, fourth and fifth rounds of this book already...

[matthew w · Rating 5 out of 5]

an absolute treat, cannot wait for clay eaters next year.

[Marcus Hobson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extraordinary book of poetry that takes you on a world of different journeys. Rather than simply a collection of poems, this is a series of prose poems that follow two distinct threads. As the reader we are disorientated, it takes time to find a thread on which to anchor ourselves.

Eventually, these distinct threads will emerge, helped by the way the text is set, the lines of some stories double spaced, while the others are single spaced and tightly boxed together. In the widely spaced narrative the writer explores their feelings and relationship, while in the other the writer is on a journey towards a distant lighthouse in a land with a second sun. “The second sun is a house made of many doors. I disappear to reappear in many places at once.” None of these simple stories give up their meanings lightly, but need to be considered and re-read to absorb them as a whole. Because the layout makes the different stories easy to spot, you can go back and read the whole journey to the lighthouse as a single narrative. You can lose yourself in the imagery, the staircases that descend downwards into the rock, the trapdoor hidden beneath a rug that leads to a labyrinth below.

I try to find my way back to the trapdoor,
but there are passages leading in every
direction. At times the caverns seem larger,
and the few things in them further apart.
The Persian word for labyrinth, hezar-tu,
roughly translates as ‘a thousand insides’,
‘a thousand withins’.

And in the other narrative, in the relationship which is constantly seeking to makes sense of events, there is this wonderful passage:

Sometimes when you have your back turned

I have my back turned.

Sometimes when you have your back turned

I turn around

and look at your back.

Sometimes when I turn around and look at your back

you turn around

and then we look at each other.

I am reluctant to say much more than this, because it is hard to really describe what is happening in this book without either saying too much or trying to impose an interpretation which could spoil another readers experience. My suggestion; find a copy and a spare hour. Read it all, read it again, and then take a few moments to reflect on the journey you have taken. It will be an hour well spent.

[Carolyn DeCarlo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gregory Kan's second book of poetry, like his debut, flashes the reader with glimpses of two half-worlds. We get another glimpse at the personal -- this time, on display without a lens or even, really, a frame -- and a construct -- this time, a game devised by Kan and friends to create, combine, and preserve other worlds within their own poems. While the first, more personal flash is perhaps more emotionally engaging to the reader, it is the second split side that fascinates me. How can something that evokes another text(s) so fully simultaneously feel so of this poet and no one else? Everything Kan writes feels like it's under a microscope, so perhaps this gives a clue as to how he does it here. There is creative intention, and deliberation, and thought, even when this poet is at his most light-handed and playful.

I was able to engage with Gregory in an interview about his style and practice last year, before this book debuted. Here is a link, for more of my thoughts on his first and second collections: http://cordite.org.au/interviews/deca...

[Aria-Joshes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the simplicity of this book. There were some nice poems in there that spoke to me.