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Cold Genius
Poetry. Limited edition of 100 copies.Stupid pretending to beSmart could be smarter than smartPretending to be stupid
- GenresPoetry
26 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 28, 2016
reread this
it's still brilliant. I still don't know how to handle double quotes
it's still brilliant. I still don't know how to handle double quotes
March 24, 2019
Of course Ben Lerner blurbed this, and of course he says he thinks that Kunin is his “most contemporary contemporary.”
Anyway, the book, which is committed to basically formal explorations and linkages, is pretty good for the first four sections. It evolves in unexpected ways while remaining true to its strategies. But it falls apart in the last section, which includes a couple of uncomfortable passages about judging women (“I stopped going/Out with women/In order to study them…”) [?] and “guilt":
“To learn to enjoy atoning for your
Inheritance
“Being held upside down or bound
By a fire. Will this expiate?”
The important part here is that these don’t really seem like persona poems, unless the whole book is a book of persona poems, which I suppose for a book titled Cold Genius is entirely possible. But really nothing up until the fifth section prepares you for this or sets any groundwork for it. At another point, the speaker seemingly bemoans what the speaker would probably call “SJW poetry”:
“I have no idea what this/
Guy’s sexuality is! He’s
willing to share any pointless
or personal
Detail but not that…”
It’s pretty shrill, especially in a book like this, which values flatness.
At another point, the speaker says something to the effect that you can put anything in a book of poetry and nobody will notice, so maybe this book, in content and strategy, is “exploring” the poetics of gaslighting.
Anyway, the book, which is committed to basically formal explorations and linkages, is pretty good for the first four sections. It evolves in unexpected ways while remaining true to its strategies. But it falls apart in the last section, which includes a couple of uncomfortable passages about judging women (“I stopped going/Out with women/In order to study them…”) [?] and “guilt":
“To learn to enjoy atoning for your
Inheritance
“Being held upside down or bound
By a fire. Will this expiate?”
The important part here is that these don’t really seem like persona poems, unless the whole book is a book of persona poems, which I suppose for a book titled Cold Genius is entirely possible. But really nothing up until the fifth section prepares you for this or sets any groundwork for it. At another point, the speaker seemingly bemoans what the speaker would probably call “SJW poetry”:
“I have no idea what this/
Guy’s sexuality is! He’s
willing to share any pointless
or personal
Detail but not that…”
It’s pretty shrill, especially in a book like this, which values flatness.
At another point, the speaker says something to the effect that you can put anything in a book of poetry and nobody will notice, so maybe this book, in content and strategy, is “exploring” the poetics of gaslighting.
September 4, 2021
4.4 Stars
October 20, 2022
The use of quotation marks is a distracting gimmick. But, the writing would still be poor without them.
August 9, 2015
Little dog, "little" toy, "little"
Soul, where does my sense of humor
Go when I am dead? Dear colleague
In words and flesh
Your routines held me "in" outright
Prolonged laughter.
Come on, "little toy," "words" spoken
With his body to "his body"
"My" name is Jo. "I am" "your" "soul"
"Your" "little soul."
Soul, where does my sense of humor
Go when I am dead? Dear colleague
In words and flesh
Your routines held me "in" outright
Prolonged laughter.
Come on, "little toy," "words" spoken
With his body to "his body"
"My" name is Jo. "I am" "your" "soul"
"Your" "little soul."
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews