One

by Jen Hofer

Poetry. "ONE is necessarily engaged, engagingly necessary. As so much contemporary American poetry takes the witless witticism of 'no ideas except as refracted in other ideas' to its logical conclusion, using Stevens as willful instrument to hollow out Dickinson's interiority, flying as far as possible from Whitman, Williams and Pound in some desperately whimsical, whimsically desperate attempt to escape (still, at this late date!) 20th century modernisms, it's wonderfully refreshing to treat oneself to the singular drama in Jen Hofer's open field verse, refractory through purposive theater, flicking with deconstruction, declension and interrogation. Her sage 'insistence' flares into the continuous present that is our own"--Sesshu Foster.

74 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2009

About the author

Jen Hofer is a poet and translator originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. Her recent publications include Sin puertas visibles: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry by Mexican Women (University of Pittsburgh Press and Ediciones Sin Nombre, 2003), slide rule (subpress, 2002), and the chapbooks lawless (Seeing Eye Books, 2003) and sexoPUROsexoVELOZ (translations of poetry by Dolores Dorantes, Seeing Eye Books, 2004). Her next books will be a full-length translation of Dorantes’ sexoPUROsexoVELOZ, (Kenning Editions 2007), a translation of Laura Solórzano’s lobo de labio, (Action Books, 2006), a collaboration with poet and musician Patrick Durgin (Atelos, 2007), and a book-length series of anti-war poems, titled one (Palm Press, 2008). Her poems and translations can be found in recent issues of 1913, Aufgabe, Bomb, Bombay Gin, Primary Writing and War and Peace. She lives in Los Angeles, where she teaches poetics, works as a court interpreter, and is happily a founding member of the City of Angels Ladies’ Bicycle Association, also known as The Whirly Girls.

Reviews

[Siel Ju · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anti-war poems. Language-y, reader-constructs-meaning type text framed by quotes from media, others re: war -- especially the language of war.