Overview

These poems laugh from deep within the Anthropocene, carving a psychic space where absurdity can be tempered with basic humanity. This collection invites you to join in metaphysically dismantling capitalism's death-grip on our imaginations. It's hard to stay current on the 'possum tactic, Be it in regards to grizzly bears, psychotic gun men, Or the memory that stalks you like a pelican spider. -from ""Active Threat Training Refresher""

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9781951226251

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Reviews

""It's hard to be pretty and funny, but Lillvik's poetry is a lot of both. Dark, baroque, at times hilarious when hilarious is necessary. Lillvik's is a vital, new American voice."" -Adam Gnade, author of After Tonight, Everything Will Be Different""Laurence Wilhelm Lillvik's Catharsis is Never Fully Shorn from Glee turns roller-rink nuns, AI employment verifications, and bloody wound wraps into poetry that stings and sings in the same breath. Decommissioned spy planes land on fields once sown with artist statements, government lemongrass still carries Cold War notes, (and) childhood drive-bys blur into In Search Of... reruns. This book is the living proof its title is true."" -Aaron Fagan, author of Atom and Void""I can just as easily skin a memory as tear into those blister packs of sample meds you've left convalescing in your fanny bag.Laurence Lilvik fractures the present with the still-warm memories of people and places (and their things) that make for 'an impatient nest.' The poems in Catharsis Is Never Fully Shorn From Glee wrestle with how we process our feelings in the moment and what of our human experience sticks to our skin. Each line in this collection burns and fades as the pages turn, leaving smoke in the air that you can't help but breathe. And everyone knows that the sense of smell carries the most vivid memories."" -Kevin Sampsell, author of Baby in the Night ""Laurence Lillvik's new collection sings with honesty, grief, and hope. It's a stage dive into reality. Lillvik's talent is not just narrative but lyrical. How lucky we are to have this book in the world and to hold it in our hands."" -Matthew Dickman, author of Husbandry""Lillvik's poems stroll through their landscapes in figure eights, in a cloud of government lemongrass; they hold hands with Joan Miró, wear dream goggles and sound-amplifying headphones along paths that take us to edges, to where humans and nature collide: The rusty hulls of old Beetles become terrariums in the woods, deer wander the streets looking for lawns that aren't chemically treated, and fentanyl tents live next to cattails and catalytic converters. Lillvik apprehends it all, us all-but at a slant-and, just like that, the absurd feels normal in a city populated by ghosts on crosstown buses and wild dogs patrolling the streets, where ""Headwound Wednesdays / at the walk-in clinic / was a hit with the regulars."" These poems follow their ears, too, the way you would a trail: ""There / Is a nice rug in the / Vestibule, vaguely / Arabic, oval like a / locket, faded from // Steps and beams of / Stained light."" These are poems to journey with if you've ever had a hunch that nothing is quite what it seems. And if Lillvik ever invites you on a walk, I suggest dropping everything to join him."" -Lex Orgera, author of Agatha

Author Information

Laurence Lillvik (Portland, Oregon) is the editor of Skullcrushing Hummingbird, an international arts and literature zine. His chapbook Criterion (Greying Ghost Press) was a featured small press title at Powell's Books. His poetry has also appeared in several literary journals, audio collections, and DIY poetry chapbooks. Musically, Lillvik is the founder of KalloHumina, an umbrella project for solo work and live improvised collaborations. Though born in Hawaii, he was raised in New Jersey and has remarkably forgiven his parents for this fate. He studied poetry with Bill Knott at Emerson College before moving to Portland in 1995 where he's worked in Public Libraries for over two decades.

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