"The Invisible Stuff"

Aaron Lowinger warms up Buffalo for our upcoming reading and takes a look at Drunk by Noon, For Girls & Aaron Belz's The Bird Hoverer in ArtVoice:

"[...] Knox has the uncanny ability to make you laugh and then make you feel weird about what you just laughed at. The reason for this being, of course, that the subject matter is actually germane to something important. The entertainment value in Knox’s work is balanced by the intelligence and ingenuity of her verse."

"[Belz's] poems have the remarkable ability to turn the mind in multiple directions, line by line. The subsequent dizziness approximates euphoria rather than chaos, as Belz’s energetic verse charges on to the next line, the next take, the next punch, the growing mystery masked by layers of representation. [...] Belz here is throwing the party; times are weird, God is a mummy, so let’s dance!"

"The text of the poems [in For Girls], culled from a variety of other sources as well, presents an unceasing attack on female humanity for the sake of perceived femininity (“never let them see you perspire”). The prevailing and unabashed objectification of women should not come as a surprise in a text that predates universal suffrage, however Compton makes her point inside the many surviving prejudices. When Britney Spears shearing her golden locks is followed with such intense public zeal, surely the unwritten gender rules continue to be heeded. Using this critique as her context, Compton delivers the unexpected other side of the coin, reaching beyond the politics on the surface and delivering delicately crafted and amusing poems."

Read the rest. (Thanks, Aaron!)