First-Time Listener (297)

by Jennifer Zilm

First Time Listener explores the ramped up 21st century digitalization of the social world, while reaching back to the most ancient of manuscript cultures. In Part 1, all is Gilgamesh, God, the Cloud, the Bible, Bob Dylan, technologies of the book, and CNN’s Crimes of the Century. Part 2, Retrospective of the North in Gold, turns contemplative, reading the colours and astrological signs of the digital and urban 21st century worlds. The book concludes with Lost Time, an ambitious long poem that maps Zilm's girlhood in Surrey―located on the south bank of the Fraser River in Metro Vancouver―onto Proust’s Combray, exploring cracks in the interesections of class, sex, gender, and language.

Genres: Poetry

100 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2022

About the author

Jennifer Zilm comes from a long line of charismatic hillbillies. She has done time in libraries, archives, bible colleges and social housing. Her most recent book, ReLit Award nominee First-Time Listener was published by Guernica Editions in fall 2022. Her second collection The Missing Field (Guernica Editions, 2018) was shortlisted for the 2019 Pat Lowther Memorial Award. Her first book Waiting Room (BookThug, 2016) was shortlisted for the Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry. Zilm is also the author of two chapbooks: The whole and broken yellows (Frog Hollow, 2013) and October Notebook (Dancing Girl Press, 2015). Zilm has been a finalist for many contests, including The Malahat Review‘s Far Horizons Award and Arc Poetry Magazine's Poem of the Year. She has graduate degrees in Religious Studies, Archival Studies and Library and Information Studies from the University of British Columbia and was a doctoral fellow at McMaster University, where her (unfinished) dissertation focused on liturgical and poetic texts in the Dead Sea Scrolls. A graduate of Simon Fraser University’s Writer’s Studio and the Humber College School for Writers, Zilm’s writing has been published in numerous journals, including Prism International, Prairie Fire, The Malahat Review, Geist, Arc, Grain, CV2 and The Malahat Review. Learn more at www.jenniferzilm.com.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well not to oversell it but this book may be the most prophetic piece of work published since time ended in 1994! Ms Zilm is something of a Canadian Cassandra blasting off about ALL the trojan horses of our silly yet drastic times! Do you like sonnetesque poems? Do you wonder if you can get every book online? Do you struggle to articulate the difference between turquoise and indigo???? If so this book is a must! The book also contains well-crafted food notes, direct downloads from g-d and CNN, an epidemiology of recent muse naming patterns, a readers guide to In Search of Lost Time and it is Y2K compliant!

[Scott Free · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another winner from Jennifer Zilm. The novel concept of the first third where a poem becomes a response from chatbot customer service worked it's magic as the final exultations go from "How satisfactory did you find this answer?" all the way to "Are you satisfied?" which made me pause to ponder where I am and what I am doing in my life which is one of the signs of great art. The middle third contains some of her best imagery as she traverses her home landscapes. A favorite line:"You took the stairs 2 by 2. Navigating stations like a civil war general: you saw a piece of ground and knew how to use it." But she saves her real power for the third and final section where her thoughts and lines mingle with those of a close reading of Proust that makes it all so personal and moving. In this section the footnotes sprinkled throughout really capture the artist's voice and wit and I found myself thinking that I can only hope that she turns her skill to prose someday even for a bit.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absolutely stunning cover!! This is a thought provoking poetry collection. I particularly enjoyed the last poem, "The professor opens", I think it's the perfect piece to end on. I look forward to picking this back up time and time again.

Thanks to NetGalley and Guernica Editions for providing a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions here are my own.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt a little frustrated reading this collection as I had a hard time finding a way for it to settle for me. There were some clever moments with the acts of reading and understanding interpretations of language, but the language itself did not feel as strong as I might have liked.

Some of this review appeared in my stories on Instagram on 8/4/22,

PS: I am having difficulty signing in to GoodReads due to the Facebook connectivity error, but I will put this review onto GoodReads as soon as I can log in again.

[Calliope]

Eerie and prescient. Smart commentary on the world and what is going on in our time with censorship and misinformation.

[Gabriel Noel · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC given by NetGalley for Honest Review

A super interesting read! Zilm uses her librarian work as well as her connection to bible studies and mental health to create thought provoking pieces on the way we interpret language and ourselves. Some of the enjoyment for me was in the wittiness of the query poems as well as the gorgeous use of metaphor and visual language. Some poems get bogged down in the "wordiness" and might be a turn off for (excuse the pun) first time poetry readers, but I think avid poetry fans will enjoy the depth.

My favorite poems are: " Devotional: Hastings & Princess", "Hey! Fever", "QUERY: Is it true I can get any book online?", and "First Time Listener: A how-to guide."

[Kim Trainor · Rating 5 out of 5]

complex, bittersweet, and ποικιλός

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of poems about all manner of contemplative subjects and a bonus one about growing up in Surrey, B.C. I liked it well enough.