Circulation Flowers

by Chuck Stebelton

Poetry. Winner of the 2004 Jack Spicer Award, Chuck Stebelton's CIRCULATION FLOWERS is a beautiful collection of lyric meditations that, appropriately enough, seem to channel Spicer's biting wit and pair it with Ceravolo's infinite miniature gestures, while maintaining a voice entirely their own. These poems believe in poetry, they tackle the everyday as if it were a monumental conundrum. Amidst his father's Corvair and horses, and after running down five songs in five minutes, Stebelton asserts, "I'm writing Americana in ink" and in fact, he is.

Genres: Poetry

88 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stebelton's talent is obvious. I'm particularly excited by the rhythm of his work, the way the force of sentences will wind itself up through a varied kind of phrase that then crashes into, say, a series of short, sharp syllables. It's an energetic, dynamic network of swerves and sudden stops, coupled with an often disruptive use of enjambment, that often reminds me of Jack Spicer (the book was, in fact, the winner of Tougher Disguises' Spicer award). Here's a poem from early in the book as an example:

TOUCH & GO

Humans like me can't hear beneath
small handfuls of math. One in three
trillion green flowers advocates close
counting. The vulnerable cave
in the bottom of each hand holds
an artery hostage. The advocates
are even. You have no faith in certitude.

The periodicity of blue is gone. She
was fond of dropping names and he
returned the favor. Tomato blossom

that could. We won't reproduce cruelty.
A night at the sea means red anemones.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

As Noah Eli Gordon says in Rain Taxi, this book is underappreciated, and while that it does give me a sense of propriety pleasure in appreciating it, Stebelton in general and Circulation Flowers specifically deserves a much wider readership.

[Ron Mohring · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe it's me. Couldn't get through it.