The Sentence is a Lonely Place,”Gary Lutz writes that the books he fell in love with were the ones “in which virtually every sentence had the force and feel of a climax, in which almost every sentence was a vivid extremity of language, an abruption, a definitive inquietude.” Robert Vaughn’s newest book, Diptychs + Triptychs + Lipsticks + Dipshits, which manages to pack thirty pieces in fifty-five pages, is a beautiful example of the kind of attention to detail that Gary Lutz admires.” Read the rest here: The Lit Pub • Diptychs + Triptychs + Lipsticks + Dipshits Again, thanks Ilana and Molly, and everyone else at the Lit Pub!]]>
Diptychs + Triptychs is reviewed at Lit Pub
Over the years, I’ve had numerous conversations with other poets, and more than often, Simon’s name is mentioned. His poems are staggering in volume, unique in voice and perspective, jarring, earthly devoted, and remarkably lovely.
As a nod to his oeuvre, I constructed a poem, utilizing only the first lines of a Simon Perchik poem, including the title (also, a Perchik first line). Here is the entire poem:
They were reaching for their mother’s breath
Wherever I turn the air needs water
and in the dark my pillow, abandoned
stone, stone, stone, not a drop
again, the sky rubbing against my legs
all the pieces must be found, make
this cup half ecstasy, half adrift
With those hefty walls a bank
even this tree :a stranglehold
And the dead can’t wait, they crouch
as if its stream would slow
What a long way- they know
this bridge as if before its crash
(all words excerpted from Simon Perchik’s Hands Collected: The Books of Poems (1949-1999)
(only first lines used to construct entire poem, including title)
And today, April 8th, I read Simon Perchik for National Poetry Month:
I read the title poem, which I find so playful, humane, and deep simultaneously:
Russell’s poetry is dark, smart and infused with just the right amount of humor. Here is more about the collection: 