yr yr¹
Matt Margo
2017
Ghost City Press
29 pp
Free to download with or without
donation
Reviewed by Clara B. Jones
It is difficult to characterize
“experimental” or “avant-garde” poetry definitively. However,
it is widely accepted that these forms break with conventional
practices. Matt Margo is a recognized promoter of experimental poetry
as a writer and Editor of two poetry journals and as Publicity
Director for Gold Wake Press. They describe themselves simply as “a
person who writes,” though their identity is, also, defined by use
of non-binary pronouns and non-gendered creative work. Margo's 2015
poetry collection Blueberry Lemonade, established them as a
prominent young poet of “angst,” addressing trauma and neurotic
impulses. Rather than being a collection about the interior self,
however, yr yr's poems position the writer in relation to
language. Their poem, “sea,” exhibits the form of pieces
throughout the chapbook, words or phrases separated by various
graphemes unique to each composition. Titles are short, single
words—“animal,” “craft,” “killer,” “whale,”
“mind[less],” “arts.” Each word or phrase might be considered
an element to itself, and, in a post-modern sense, meaning or
interpretation is, for the most part, surrendered to the reader.
sea
sample
of mint leaf ÷ matrix equation ÷ the end of the season
÷
relatively peaceful ÷ a raised stone basement ÷ beyond the
clouds
÷ performance and precision ÷ the science of human
history
÷ seen to be sympathetic ÷ this pathway is
suppressed
÷ boob tube inanities ÷ wrecked off the coast ÷
completely
in lowercase ÷ eternal dream ÷ group stage ÷
coach
of the dragonflies ÷ superparticular ÷ all animals be
stunned
÷ the variegated pink ÷ determiner of shoe sizes
“sea,”
and the other compositions in yr
yr,
can be understood as true examples of minimalist “collage poetry,”
and, if we are not to consider these poems as random collections of
words and phrases, we must assume that they are intentionally
positioned, perhaps, via
the
writer's process of free-association. Whatever the derivation of
these pieces, they are Rorschach-like, and, if not intended for
diagnosis, are intended to provide pleasure and non-representational
fantasy. Sometimes, poems contain references to titles, such as the
phrases, “in the hydrostatic equilibrium” and “a sudden change
in the atmosphere,” in the piece titled, “fog.”
the
poems, “futures” and “transient” contain the phrases, “opus
of chaos” and “state of chaos,” respectively, possibly hinting
at Margo's view of themself in an uncertain world. On the other hand,
they may find comfort in “a universal human language,” an element
of the poem, “logic,” and reminiscent of Noam Chomsky's
formulations about “deep grammar.” In the poem, “gazelle,”
one phrase highlights “pure poetic fantasy,” that may be a coded
message about how the writer perceives their collection. Similarly,
in the poem, “winter,” they embed the phrase, “derivation is
uncertain,” within a poem whose elements are otherwise [seemingly]
unrelated. However, in at least one poem, “red”, Margo includes
the phrase, “form follows function,” an element linking the
compositions, and the writer's view of them, to serious critical
scholarship, in this case, about the writings as a whole.
However
yr yr may,
or may not, be connected to the mainstream literary scene, all poetry
is fiction and cannot be completely realistic—though we may want to
believe otherwise. With this collection, Margo has transitioned from
a type of literal interiorization to poems that increase the distance
between writing and reader. yr
yr
reveals Margo's aesthetic authority. They have seemingly moved beyond
personal conflicts to address the contradictions, ambiguities, and
complexities of adult life. I highly recommend this collection to any
reader interested in ambitious and mostly successful examples of
contemporary Experimental Poetry by a young writer, and I eagerly
anticipate their future work.
¹Originally
published in the
curly mind,
2017
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