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george_salis's review
4.0
This is some evocative (and buried) surreal poetry. Entirely original to me but at times reminiscent of Russel Edson and Barton Smock. Not every poem was perfect or great and the collection was at its weakest when lapsing into the pastoral, as with Plath’s Collected Poems. The weakest section was probably the penultimate one, and the largest, in which Hitchcock suddenly becomes obsessed with rhyming and often rhymes in the same pattern. Overall, this is worth picking up for the many poems and lines that are dreams in and of themselves. Plus, read aloud and you’ll have the pleasure of breathing life into a man’s neglected work. Too bad he didn’t write a novel. Here’s a taste of his talent:
“Roses in this carpet grow from a soil / of forgotten shoe-laces”
“burglar purrs”
“evangelical lampreys rising through the heathen ooze”
“The motorcycle on its hind legs / whips & macaroons”
“male children whose names begin / with semi-colons are / granted / placentas of cocaine”
“his hands are gloves stuffed with sand / his feet are glued to their own shadows/ geysers of locusts spray from his penis / his knees come apart like Chinese puzzles”
“keep away from elaborate peptalks / by the man with the french-fried teeth”
“your churches rotting in the sun give birth / to storms of worms”
“who vacation at imaginary beaches and swim / in the entrails of the lion”
“Doors open and close on my shadow”
“Roses in this carpet grow from a soil / of forgotten shoe-laces”
“burglar purrs”
“evangelical lampreys rising through the heathen ooze”
“The motorcycle on its hind legs / whips & macaroons”
“male children whose names begin / with semi-colons are / granted / placentas of cocaine”
“his hands are gloves stuffed with sand / his feet are glued to their own shadows/ geysers of locusts spray from his penis / his knees come apart like Chinese puzzles”
“keep away from elaborate peptalks / by the man with the french-fried teeth”
“your churches rotting in the sun give birth / to storms of worms”
“who vacation at imaginary beaches and swim / in the entrails of the lion”
“Doors open and close on my shadow”
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