Crossing Borders

by Steve Kowit, Lenny Silverberg

Poetry. Art. Poems by Steve Kowit. Drawings and Watercolors by Lenny Silverberg. Although humor can be a switchblade of critical deconstruction and these guys can swing it with the best of them, right here, right now, they're going for soul. Cutting deeper. So get ready. They render a double dose, slicing to the bone with achingly fine-tuned artistry. Kowit and Silverberg have each honed their characteristic styles down to a focused, reductive form--accomplished contrarianly (as is their wont) by addition. Kowit plus Silverberg equals way more than two. Yet together, they reduce abstract social, political and economic issues to something more representational humanity.

55 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2009

Reviews

[Hannah Moenyan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up on a whim at a used bookstore, attracted by its interesting combination of poetry and greyscale art. Although it’s short (barely 50 pages, and just 8 poems), the poems are deep and explore themes of places, identity, belonging, borders, immigration and more. It’s a collaboration between a poet and artist who were good friends ever since college days in the 60’s and they do a good job of interceding the message through both forms. Not sure why there aren’t any reviews yet for this book on Goodreads but I’d recommend it to anyone who is interested in poetry and/or themes of borders and migration.