Amanda Paradise

by C.A. Conrad

Former United States Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith wrote in the New York Times, “CAConrad's poems invite the reader to become an agent in a joint act of recovery, to step outside of passivity and propriety and to become susceptible to the illogical and the mysterious.” The poems in AMANDA PARADISE: Resurrect Extinct Vibration reach out from a (Soma)tic poetry ritual where CA flooded their body with the field recordings of recently extinct animals. Foundational here are the memories of loved ones who died of AIDS, the daily struggle of existing through the Corona Virus pandemic, and the effort to arrive at a new way of falling in love with the world as it is, not as it was.

Genres: Poetry, Queer, LGBT, School

121 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2021

About the author

CAConrad’s childhood included selling cut flowers along the highway for his mother and helping her shoplift. He is the author of 9 books of poetry and essays the latest While Standing In Line For Death is forthcoming from Wave Books in September 2017. He is a Pew Fellow and has also received fellowships from Lannan Foundation, MacDowell Colony, Headlands Center for the Arts, Banff, RADAR, Flying Ojbect and Ucross. For his books, essays, and details on the documentary The Book of Conrad (Delinquent Films, 2016), please visit http://CAConrad.blogspot.com

Reviews

[S P · Rating 3 out of 5]

'M drew
his face
the day
he was
diagnosed
HIV positive
and kept drawing
as his face changed
they were sublime
like Munch's self
portrait with
Spanish flu
he called on
his deathbed
at his parents'
home to say his
father was in the
backyard burning
the stacks of drawings
I wanted to make him stop
please don't he said
it's his last chance to
deny me how can
I deny him that'

(from '72 Corona Transmutations', p52)

[Benjamin Niespodziany · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best living poets. Period. Every book is 100% CAConrad. No one writes like them.

[Al · Rating 5 out of 5]

If the street is paradise:
A rat trap, but it's catching
the wrong rats!

[Erika Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is such a beautiful book. I was also fascinated by the somatic poetry rituals included at its end.l and the fact that CAConrad wrote many of these poems while listening to audiotapes of the sounds of extinct animals. One of my favorite poems in this is “Camisado” and some of my favorite lines are copied here:

after breaking in
the wolf
calmed
the hens
so he could
take his time with them
twists them open until the right
amount of memory fits into the song
another high price for belonging
poetry is the opposite of escape
but makes this world endurable

These poems are vulnerable and sharp and certainly make this world a bit more endurable!

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was difficult ngl

[JB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amanda Paradise has Resurrect Extinct Vibrations as its subtitle, the latter referring to a specific (Soma)tic ritual Conrad used over the course of composing the book...

https://measurepoetryreview.blogspot....

[Alyson Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

~~5 WORD REVIEW~~

Poetry as ritual: a lesson.

[Katherine Orfinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this collection, and I did love most of it. I felt like a lot of the best, most impactful poems were towards the front of the book, and as I devoured it, the pieces became less and less satisfying. The prose at the end felt like a sort of tacked-on narrative that didn't seem to fit with the ephemerality of the poems. Maybe it's just because I don't believe in talking plants and magical crystals, but for me, it detracted from the authority of the poetic voice.

There were some particularly beautiful and heartbreaking lines that really struck me, especially CAConrad's way with endings. As a poet myself, I've been cautioned from writing endings that seem "too much like endings," (a nice way to say that I end with a lot of cliches), and CAConrad definitely is far from cliche. I bring up my own writing because I encountered this collection in the context of a poetry workshop class, so I read it through the lens of what I would/wouldn't try in my own work. Overall, I'm very glad I read it!

[Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conrad's work with a poetry that openly reaches beyond the human to recognize the full shape and size of a human self has always fascinated me. Their (Soma)tic poetry rituals, the expansive imaginative energy released by the rituals, the perspective that can see the potential of doing things that make the body participate, and why the body's participation would be a catalyst for more understanding. I can go on and on about the poetic implications of Conrad's poetry.

And within that appreciation (the formal structures, the determination to discover poetic newness in everything), I don't even begin to touch the depth of tragedy, outrage, and elation in these poems. I'll admit I'm taught by every poet I read. I'll also admit that being taught by Conrad's poetry is one of my most avid pleasures.

[casey vieira · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel so thrown...so humbled. On my knees. Wanting to form/enact some kind of ritual. Wanting to let my body merge with flora. Wanting to write.

A beautiful collection filled with inquiries into the ecopolitics of space, movement, and contact...what animals are allowed to take what spaces and why/how?...how might one radically emerge/recreate themself out of the life-stifling divisions made between different animal bodies, those enacted by colonial/capitalist systems of power? What can writing do for this? What can ritual do for this? CAConrad shows us through this beautiful and fun and painful poems...and nudges us further into discovery of our own potentially life-giving/saving [poetic, spiritual, animal] practices.

[Sophia Mautz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this. It's so different. Similar to berssenbrugge in its unabashed belief in the spiritual / metaphysical / intangible / vibratory. and saying the true thing you want to say. these poems feel very grounded in real life despite the ritualistic/transportive context it was written in. i like the sentences and the sentiments a lot, but not sure how i feel about the *poetry* of it all. the 72 corona transmutations were the weakest part for me, where it almost veered into rupi kaur-like territory at times.

[lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow both heartbreaking and empowering. "Glitter In My Wounds" and "45 Minutes" really stuck with me-- as did the bit about the Indiana poet whose family had a doomsday bunker (speaking as a Florida poet whose family is quite Rapture-conscious). The only thing is I wish the prose at the end was its own project separate from "Amanda Paradise."

[mallory payne · Rating 5 out of 5]

mad respect to like all living poets, but no one is doing it like CAConrad.

“my body pulled off the road / my spirit takes / me on the American / highways in my sleep / push and push it into / digital mycelium of / the internet / these cells / can never end”

i mean holy shit. “divining into the premonition” alone is gonna live in my brain like a mushroom for a LONG time.

[isaac dwyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

CAConrad is a glowing, whispering, shimmering treasure to the living and those in the hereafter who must be protected at all costs. I don’t care if you believe everything that they believe about stars and energies and spirits; they believe it with sincerity and meaningful heartfelt meaning.

The first section I found the strongest. Blessed be Amanda Paradise.

[Greg Bem · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice continuation of CA Conrad's life saga, nice in that it continues along what Conrad has established through the somatic. The two series of poetry and the rituals demand a presence while also maintaining accessibility. A must-read for everyone!

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just discovered CAConrad by scheduling them for a reading I hosted, not knowing at all what I was in for. WOW! I am truly smitten by their work, by their spirit, and by the ease they put into the room. Devoured this book and it was delicious.

[Cheyenne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so fantastic! This was my first Conrad book, but it certainly won't be my last. As with just about any collection in existence, a few pieces were misses for me, but when they were on (which was most of the time), they were SPOT on.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conrad is just a genius and you should definitely read this book.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and bizarre. The best combination.

[Meredith D · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely blown away by this. Important creative and spiritual practices occurring here, communicated through the vibrations of this language. Spectacular work

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cannot be summarized or condensed. Necessary reading!

[Mia Kalish · Rating 4 out of 5]

powerful, strange, grieving, rebellious poetry