This month’s feature is a limited, first edition hardcover of Thin Kimono by my favorite Livingston poet (with apologies to myself). He’s also my favorite farrier, though to be fair, I only know two and the other one is Earl’s apprentice.
One doesn’t so much read a Craig poem as one ricochets through it, bouncing from unexpected image to poignant memory, from twisted metaphor to surreal phantasm. In each of the poems in this collection of 105 pages, the language is surprising, but never forced. Though the words are not at any time predictable, they are, every time, the right word, in the sense of the famous Mark Twain observance: “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the same as the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” Craig’s words are lighting.
from “Bluebirds” …
I slump over in my chair.
It’s like I’m covered in bluebirds.
Little brilliant ones.And when I say this,
“little brilliant ones,”
I lisp a little like a man
who’s been punched hard in the mouth
but still wants to talk bluebirds.
Our copy is in like new condition. White cloth-covered boards with black spine text. The jacket has some minor wear but is now in protective mylar. Signed by the author on the title page. $25.
0 Comments