Amy King's first full-length collection, Antidotes for an Alibi, insists that we examine the deceptive clarity of our actions and the goals that motivate us. How does one actually get from "A" to "B"-and is there ever really a "B"? What color is the white space between "A" and "B"? Upon closer inspection, surface realities reveal themselves to be porous and fragile, layered with textures and grains that lead the eye on varying pathways. So what are we to do in a world of newspaper narratives that instruct us toward tidy endings, murmuring that such endings are possible and even inevitable?
These poems greet us with leaking giraffes, dogs that lick lye, the Lone Ranger, the inhabitants of Dishwater Island, an unmarried wife and a Sikh cab driver, all acting within a familiar environment of telephone messages, factory work, walks through woods, red robins and hummingbirds, war zones and American histories. Both the characters and their shifting frameworks combine and overlap to point out the strangeness we tend to overlook for clarity's sake. King wants us to reconsider the possibilities of current events, to see that Truth is no longer a series of fixed notations in black and white, but is a shape-shifting, multi-faceted chain of perspectives. Her poetry celebrates the multiplicities that sing within the surface of every object and action; she aims at delectable surges, so that readers may touch and revel in the uncertainties of a complex world in motion.
I admire Amy King's poetry tremendously for the way it manipulates apparently plain language into thoughtful audacities. But her work is never in love with its own spiky cleverness. Quite the opposite: it is marked, even at its most pointed or witty, by an austere refusal to giggle at its own surprises. I first came to understand King's poetry, quite appropriately, by the accident of seeing what the British call "English mosaic" on a lamppost at the northeast corner of Eighth Street and Broadway in Manhattan. "English mosaic" is what happens when someone willfully creative takes pieces of porcelain, china, earthenware ? ordinary, rare, or irreplaceable ? smashes them (that violence being essential to rebirth) and forces the pretty shards into new relations to one another. That lamppost seems the perfect tangible representation of King's work, which takes up the tactile and moral world we perceive, holds it tenderly for a moment in a cherishing embrace ? the better to dash it against a hard surface and rearrange the new fragments in strange, indelible ways. Reading King's poems makes the eyes smart in every sense of the phrase: readers are compelled to see as possible juxtapositions they never would have envisioned on their own. "English mosaic" also describes the cool fun King has with plain nickel words, artfully reshuffled. Hers is not a surrealist's art ? she does not embrace chaos ? but she does want to make readers feel that the comfortable rug and chairs they sit on have somehow grown ambulatory and are threatening to walk outside into the yard to sniff the air. Nothing is quite safe; nothing remains the same ? deliciously so.
-Michael Steinman has written and edited six books, including The Happiness of Getting It Down Right and The Element of Lavishness, which was selected as a NYT Notable Book in 2001.
Amy King grew up in Georgia and now spends much of her time in Brooklyn and Baltimore. She teaches English at Nassau Community College on Long Island, and her first collection, Antidotes for an Alibi, is available through Blazevox [books].
premium house cleaning Wilmette ..I get up in the morningAnd want to stay in... Read More
the disease of extremism is infectious-; whoever cannot think of... Read More
One of the most important poets of the post-war period,... Read More
I WANTED TO SAY IT WITH A BUNCH OF FLOWERS... Read More
Sometimes we feel hard-pressed, Our backs against the wall;... Read More
What can I do to keep this world in its... Read More
As I picked up some of the polished gemstones in... Read More
"Song of the Great Zimbabwe"Across the African, winter's skyIn the... Read More
Amy King's first full-length collection, Antidotes for an Alibi, insists... Read More
Ole Bulky JeepsThrough late summer's heat These bulky shaped jeeps... Read More
"Beautiful Dreamer" was written by Stephen Foster just before his... Read More
Happy, Sad, Mad and Glad, Moved in down the streetCautious... Read More
Since Mohamed Ali?then Cassius Clay?announced that he had written "The... Read More
"How Do I Love Thee?" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning was... Read More
Iquitos & the Amazon Part OneIt was December 2, l959,... Read More
Writing innovative poetry, the kind of poetry that reputable literary... Read More
Let's follow the poet to his Hell and heaven! Count... Read More
Poems have different cores, or so I believe, and can... Read More
[Episode Five]Arizona Blue-GunfighterThe Wolves Nest-in the North[Episode Five]Northern Minnesota Area?Winter... Read More
Have you ever read the lyrics of a Simon and... Read More
Ded?cate to Antonio Castillo. L. Of. Los Andes UniversitarioOde to:The... Read More
Bells for Belphegor!...Where immortal veils never meet Belphegor, Arch devil... Read More
Storm Rising along the Lima Coast [Summer of 2002]?wind was... Read More
Way of Life: Rhymes of the IncaPizarro (Spanish conquistador ((1525))The... Read More
Take some time to stop and look at nature. Pick... Read More
personalized cleaning services Deerfield ..McLean, VA - "The Healing Conscious" tells the story of... Read More
1) Do?a Leonor's Revenge [1627 AD]Rafael Ortiz's fate Was... Read More
Atahualpa's Game [Peruvian]Sometimes, it's not wise To share your wisdom... Read More
In the Mountains of Haiti(In the City)-July is a hot... Read More
I Shall Wait..On all the new mornings, and every singking... Read More
Grandpa's House [The ole Real House]The house needed painting Sun-blistered... Read More
In this modern age of technology, busy lifestyles, and obsession... Read More
I'm not well. Can't you tell? Kinda low, so,... Read More
Ole Bulky JeepsThrough late summer's heat These bulky shaped jeeps... Read More
Mother's Day Poetry,I'm Sorry Mom!I'm sorry for the troubles ... Read More
Emlyn Williams Theatre, Mold, North Wales: 20th February 2003Clwyd Theatr... Read More
Kafka lands resurrected in Crewe deposited by a silvery alien... Read More
Advance: Mr. Dennis Siluk's poetry can have its fire-hearted twists:... Read More
Here are three more poems by the author, Dennis Siluk,... Read More
FIND the MAGICFind the Magic As you release old bondage... Read More
Note: written 4-15-05, while driving through the Andes of Peru,... Read More
Rhymes of an Ordnance Man [Vietnam War: 1971]An eleven part... Read More
BoyhoodOh me! Thy glorious days have flown! I mealy noticed,... Read More
Ode to Quetzalc?atlQuetzalc?atl the GreatNo one knew his true name,... Read More
Cesar Vallejo: Black RosesBow down your head ol' poet- To... Read More
[Episode Five]Arizona Blue-GunfighterThe Wolves Nest-in the North[Episode Five]Northern Minnesota Area?Winter... Read More
Part OneI tell you a legend of long ago Of... Read More
In Poetry: Meaning of WordsWhen I write poetry, I check... Read More
One of the most important poets of the post-war period,... Read More
Key Largo:The fans turn lazily in front of the doorThey... Read More
Poetry |