Full Description
Poems that question the world with tenderness and restless introspection
In I Love You But I Don't Speak Your Language, brushes with the profound may lead to brushes with the mundane, or vice versa. Cause and effect become unreasoned and transcendent, at times lifting the arbitrary into the sublime or the sublime into happenstance. Intuitive leaps pull us through oscillations between humor, introspection, and the surreal. These poems don't follow a straight path; instead, they capture the way thoughts shift, contradict, and collide.
Inspired by the poet's dreams, as well as travels throughout central Europe, the West Indies, and Central and South America, the poems are alive in voice and detail, yet the speaker's connections, and more so, disconnections, turn toward isolationism, solitude, and loneliness. At times, the collection leans into restless emotion: "I want to cry / when I think of how / I'll look back at this moment someday / and cry." Other moments pull the reader to "a far away place / of limitless palm trees and sunsets." This is poetry that doesn't try to fit into a traditional form. It questions, observes, and rethinks the world around it. Some moments might seem absurd, others deeply reflective, but all of them work together to create a book that is both thought-provoking and unpredictable.
Contents
Part I
What to Expect
P-Bear
Panther Pride
Roman Candle
Pinball City
Self-Hypnosis
Dodger Stadium
Chinese Stars
Birthday Party
Chopper City
Retina Heart
Bright Light
Alligator Breakdance Contest
Near a Kiosk on the Quad
What Do You Believe
Tropical Malady
Army of Dolphins
Part II
Yellow
Upon Me
The Feel-Good Poem of the Summer
The Feel-Good Poem of the Summer, Part II: Feeling Good with a Vengeance
Sleeping on the Beach
Dairy of a Werewolf
Gun Range Talk
What a Party
Fast Ham
Hamster Disaster
Truckasaurus
Part III
Beating a Dead Horse
Days of Our Lives
The Story
Bird Omens
Bat Sleep
Sword-Chest
Terror Bird
Night Wolf
Final Fantasy
Songs about Owls
Flagstaff
Part IV
Doctor Bronson
Reflective Pool
Self-Pie
Strangler
What Is a God
Farewell, Sea Bird
Caramel Sunday
Gore Monster
Heart Sick
Stalker
Miami Connection
I Think I'm with You, but I Don't Think You're with Me
Jofer Ranch
Country Fox
Mourning Voice
Deliverer
Acknowledgments
