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![[words on NECESSARY STRANGER by GRAHAM FOUST]
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I discovered Graham Foust last year
he was a ‘breath of fresh air’
he writes in one of my favorite modes: minimalism
truly minimal
& he has so much space in his poems
so much silence
kind of like I want these ‘words on’ pieces to have
silence & space in between language
in fact, it’s been harder for me to engage w/ a lot of ‘prose’ lately
fiction
because there isn’t that space I love
everything’s cluttered & trails until the end of the page
but Graham Foust
he has an element of clipped-ness
he’s ‘terse’
& he also has a strong sense of subtle wordplay
nothing ‘decadent’ at all
in fact, his mode feels to me somewhat a rebellion against ‘decadence’
a resistance to it
for example, he often has one word titles
very fresh & unusual syntax / logic & line-breaks (‘I could not be famous / to this place’)
here are some of the comments I left in the margins:
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‘surrealistic – a rage against ‘rationality’ (in these lines: ‘it’s the practical that murders’)
‘awesomely awkward phrasing’
‘playful darkness’
‘collage steez’
‘always a step away’ (lines: ‘but for the love of a love of god’)
‘like he’s looking at a photograph & telling us what he thinks abt it’
‘modest mouse’ (lines: ‘I miss you— / you’re not gone’)
‘this is what I need’
‘a lot of speaking to an unidentified ‘you”
‘American Beauty’ (lines: ‘A dead bag commutes / between the street / and the trees’)
‘odd titles’ (specifically in reference to ‘YOU DON’T EVEN LIVE ONCE’)
‘makes you examine simple language to find the music’
‘after Frank O’Hara’ (Foust, like O’Hara, has a poem called ‘WHY I AM NOT A PAINTER’)
‘haha’ (@ ‘The unconscious is structured / like a bladder’)
‘almost a rap’
‘Pessoa’ (lines: ‘Think back on that which / hasn’t ever happened’)
‘power of speaking things into existence’
‘enigmatic ‘I”
‘almost Zen, almost like a koan’
(on the page after the last poem): ‘consistently staging a (vague-ish) scene then using that (pseudo) grounding to explore existential & paradoxical suggestions’
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despite the mystery of his poems, they are not ‘inaccessible’
in fact, I felt very engaged throughout the whole book
Foust feels ‘hip’
he often has very ‘pedestrian’ / relatable (to Americans) titles: ‘INTERSTATE EIGHTY’ - ‘RURAL MALL WITH FLAG AT HALF-MAST’ – ‘HUFFY’ – ‘TO MY STUDENT LOANS’ – ‘NUMBER ONE HIT SONG’ – etc. etc.
this brings up a poignant tension / fertility in his poems:
the hybridity between ‘pedestrian’ & ‘philosophical’
or the highly ‘known’ & the ‘mysterious’ / ‘unknown’
I think that’s one thing that brings me to certain writers – that blend
ppl like Russell Edson (bringing the ‘absurd’ into the ‘domestic’)
or Charles Simic (bringing uncanny ‘mythological’ language to accompany ‘everyday’ settings)
Graham Foust is savvy to both ‘the contemporary time’ & the potent curiosities of the past
some more of my favorite moments from the book:
‘Here’s to music / to be in the movies to’
‘God, / the body is odd—’
‘I want something to not / do with my hands’
‘Try closing your eyes with your eyes closed’
‘I will always never / see this again’
‘The unknown is almost / interesting, with its infinite I’m-not / kidding’
‘And that the question concerning / / the problem is part of the problem’
‘I like the way I’m still not dead here’
‘Oh yeah, the Real. / It gives me asthma’
‘It’s always this— // just shoved into something / I never could have made’
‘The poem is / the poem’s is’
‘Every sound’s / its own ceremony’
*
I will read this book again, and again. I’ve read it several times now. He has a few other books; I don’t have them. I plan to buy them. I want to interview Graham Foust; hopefully I will someday. Robert Creeley (one of my favorites) wrote a blurb for the back of this book (which is wonderful & surprising – I feel like Foust is ‘somewhat ‘slept on’ / not recognized as he should be). Creeley writes: ‘IN FACT, HE’S THE FIRST PERSON WHO EVER MOVED ME TO LOOK UP THE ETYMOLOGY OF THAT WORK THINK: “TONG – TO THIN, FEEL … OLD ENGLISH THANCIAN, TO THANK …” ANYHOW, ME THINKS I OWE THIS POET THANKS FOR FACT OF US BOTH FINDING WIT IN STONE AND MUCH ELSE. HE FEELS, THEREFORE HE KNOWS’
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find the book here: http://www.amazon.com/Necessary-Stranger-Graham-W-Foust/dp/0978746716](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_makw24GcHQ1r1vr5po1_250.jpg)
[words on NECESSARY STRANGER by GRAHAM FOUST]
*
I discovered Graham Foust last year
he was a ‘breath of fresh air’
he writes in one of my favorite modes: minimalism
truly minimal
& he has so much space in his poems
so much silence
kind of like I want these ‘words on’ pieces to have
silence & space in between language
in fact, it’s been harder for me to engage w/ a lot of ‘prose’ lately
fiction
because there isn’t that space I love
everything’s cluttered & trails until the end of the page
but Graham Foust
he has an element of clipped-ness
he’s ‘terse’
& he also has a strong sense of subtle wordplay
nothing ‘decadent’ at all
in fact, his mode feels to me somewhat a rebellion against ‘decadence’
a resistance to it
for example, he often has one word titles
very fresh & unusual syntax / logic & line-breaks (‘I could not be famous / to this place’)
here are some of the comments I left in the margins:
*
‘surrealistic – a rage against ‘rationality’ (in these lines: ‘it’s the practical that murders’)
‘awesomely awkward phrasing’
‘playful darkness’
‘collage steez’
‘always a step away’ (lines: ‘but for the love of a love of god’)
‘like he’s looking at a photograph & telling us what he thinks abt it’
‘modest mouse’ (lines: ‘I miss you— / you’re not gone’)
‘this is what I need’
‘a lot of speaking to an unidentified ‘you”
‘American Beauty’ (lines: ‘A dead bag commutes / between the street / and the trees’)
‘odd titles’ (specifically in reference to ‘YOU DON’T EVEN LIVE ONCE’)
‘makes you examine simple language to find the music’
‘after Frank O’Hara’ (Foust, like O’Hara, has a poem called ‘WHY I AM NOT A PAINTER’)
‘haha’ (@ ‘The unconscious is structured / like a bladder’)
‘almost a rap’
‘Pessoa’ (lines: ‘Think back on that which / hasn’t ever happened’)
‘power of speaking things into existence’
‘enigmatic ‘I”
‘almost Zen, almost like a koan’
(on the page after the last poem): ‘consistently staging a (vague-ish) scene then using that (pseudo) grounding to explore existential & paradoxical suggestions’
*
despite the mystery of his poems, they are not ‘inaccessible’
in fact, I felt very engaged throughout the whole book
Foust feels ‘hip’
he often has very ‘pedestrian’ / relatable (to Americans) titles: ‘INTERSTATE EIGHTY’ - ‘RURAL MALL WITH FLAG AT HALF-MAST’ – ‘HUFFY’ – ‘TO MY STUDENT LOANS’ – ‘NUMBER ONE HIT SONG’ – etc. etc.
this brings up a poignant tension / fertility in his poems:
the hybridity between ‘pedestrian’ & ‘philosophical’
or the highly ‘known’ & the ‘mysterious’ / ‘unknown’
I think that’s one thing that brings me to certain writers – that blend
ppl like Russell Edson (bringing the ‘absurd’ into the ‘domestic’)
or Charles Simic (bringing uncanny ‘mythological’ language to accompany ‘everyday’ settings)
Graham Foust is savvy to both ‘the contemporary time’ & the potent curiosities of the past
some more of my favorite moments from the book:
‘Here’s to music / to be in the movies to’
‘God, / the body is odd—’
‘I want something to not / do with my hands’
-
‘Try closing your eyes with your eyes closed’
‘I will always never / see this again’
‘The unknown is almost / interesting, with its infinite I’m-not / kidding’
-
‘And that the question concerning / / the problem is part of the problem’
‘I like the way I’m still not dead here’
‘Oh yeah, the Real. / It gives me asthma’
‘It’s always this— // just shoved into something / I never could have made’
-
‘The poem is / the poem’s is’
‘Every sound’s / its own ceremony’
*
I will read this book again, and again. I’ve read it several times now. He has a few other books; I don’t have them. I plan to buy them. I want to interview Graham Foust; hopefully I will someday. Robert Creeley (one of my favorites) wrote a blurb for the back of this book (which is wonderful & surprising – I feel like Foust is ‘somewhat ‘slept on’ / not recognized as he should be). Creeley writes: ‘IN FACT, HE’S THE FIRST PERSON WHO EVER MOVED ME TO LOOK UP THE ETYMOLOGY OF THAT WORK THINK: “TONG – TO THIN, FEEL … OLD ENGLISH THANCIAN, TO THANK …” ANYHOW, ME THINKS I OWE THIS POET THANKS FOR FACT OF US BOTH FINDING WIT IN STONE AND MUCH ELSE. HE FEELS, THEREFORE HE KNOWS’
*
find the book here: http://www.amazon.com/Necessary-Stranger-Graham-W-Foust/dp/0978746716
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