Celluloid Salutations

by Elizabeth Block

It's all love, work, child. And the writing. Mainly the writing. It takes over all these other things and yet it is built out of all these things. This is how Elizabeth Block erases Elizabeth Block, as one poem claims. She does this automatically, animalistically, while wailing forward, gracefully and with improvisation. —Juliana Spahr Elizabeth Block’s poetry moves through those “layers of noise” we all contend with and goes a long way toward conquering by absorbing them. Page by page, the intervals, apparent blanks and interruptions between word clusters, vibrate tellingly with each tabulation of event, the actuality in and of the words as Block arranges them. Here is urgency and nuance. The matter never gets figured out we want it to we think all day long on. Take time to read this magnetic book. ––Bill Berkson Elizabeth Block never forgets the past. No, she turns it, disturbs it, upsets it---creating a series of cascading images that make Celluloid Salutations overflow with seething energy. These are slinky, evocative works that throw you everything but expect you to catch what you want. There's enough space here to drive a spaceship through, and Block is both pilot and stargazer, photographer and disappearing artist. —Davis Schneiderman Elizabeth Block is the author of the novel, A Gesture Through Time, written under fiscal sponsorship of Intersection for the Arts, SF. She is the recipient of a Doris Roberts/William Goyen fiction fellowship from the Christopher Isherwood Foundation and of many other awards and residencies such as an award from Poets & Writers and from the Djerssi Resident Artists Program Tread of Angels Fellowship. Also a filmmaker, her film poems have traveled extensively throughout the United States and elsewhere. She has published work in many genres and in many journals and her work has also appeared on public radio affiliates, KQED, KSFR and others. She has often collaborated with musicians and visual artists. Her writing has appeared on stage, in film, in public art, in books, on audio CD and podcasts.

142 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2013

About the author

Elizabeth Block is an award-winning writer of fiction, poetry, and essays. Her first novel, A Gesture Through Time, was published in late 2005. Her writing in multiple genres has been published in internationally distributed and limited edition print and electronic journals, in newspapers, on the radio, on audio CD, and has been performed live. Also a filmmaker, Elizabeth’s films have toured extensively in festivals, museums, and art house cinemas. Elizabeth (because she cannot help herself) has been known to collaborate with curators, designers, and artists in many
media-ideas.