We discover something of his language, the individuality of his word usages, rhythms, diction, conjunctions of images and phrases. They are like a guidebook to the places that Nemser leads us. Many of Nemser’s poems seem to work this way. I frequently liken the creation of a poem to a journey, discovering and exploring a new world or even a different universe, and the resultant poem as a travel journal or at least a souvenir. Since then, I’ve read the book in its entirety at least a dozen times and its 58 poems several times more with an increasing admiration for what Mr. _ October 2021 A Review of Paul Nemser’s Poetry Collection: A Thousand Curves by Leonard Temmeįour months ago, I received a review copy of Paul Nemser’s 2021 collection of poems, A Thousand Curves. Shawn Rubenfeld explores the absurdity of suffering––and games––in The Eggplant Curse and the Warp Zone through a Jewish, millennial character from New York City. Perhaps the thinking is that as a people, they have needed them before, and will likely need them again. The game is meant to be educational, while incidentally training students to hone their survival skills. But aren’t we also simulating suffering by playing certain games? Is the simulation of suffering meant to hone our survival instincts and strategies, or determine who among us is most likely to crumble under the pressure? In some Jewish private schools, for example, students are encouraged to imagine themselves within the system of Nazi regime, to imagine how they would be sorted in the death camps, according to ability and skill. What is the pleasure of a game? We play games to distract, to kill time, to connect with others. _ A Review of Shawn Rubenfeld’s The Eggplant Curse and the Warp Zone by Juliana Converse Each poem hangs as a translucent mobile that exists as a superposition of all these forms, uniquely catching and reflecting each by rich variations in imagery and voice. Comprised in the majority by prose poems, Glass Bikini evokes the world-building of science fiction, the fairy tale, the dream narration, the prophecy, the parable, and the personal anecdote. Le Guin posits, “Science fiction is not predictive it is descriptive.” Kristin Bock’s full-length poetry collection Glass Bikini rewards both predictive and descriptive interpretations, showing us as much about how our world is as how it might become. In a strikingly insightful self-introduction to her novel The Left Hand of Darkness, science fiction master Ursula K. _ “Exploding expectations of the form:” Kristin Bock’s Glass Bikini by Julia Gibson Two decades on, the proliferation of website templates and online zines means that short-short fiction is no longer the province of luminaries such as Amy Hempel (“ Housewife”) Jamaica Kincaid (“ Girl“) and Lydia Davis (“ Boring Friends,” “ Murder in Bohemia.”) An entire generation of short-short writers have thrived and pushed the boundaries of flash. Whether called short-shorts, flash fiction or micro fiction, the advent of the Internet allowed online platforms to catapult compressed stories into the mainstream. Rather, much like television, very short fiction is enjoying a golden age. Instead, with the release of Kim Chinquee‘s latest collection, SNOWDOG, we are reminded that it’s too soon to compose eulogies for any kind of storytelling, including flash fiction. But it’s hard to find corpses amidst the avalanche of written, electronic and audiobooks accompanying us through the pandemic. Literary pundits are wont to predict the death of the novel, the death of the short story and the death of reading altogether. _ November 2021 “The Boundaries of Flash”: A Review of Kim Chinquee’s SNOWDOG by Gail Louise Siegel In the meantime, happy autumn, and enjoy! Our new Senior Reviews Editors, Nandini Bhattacharya, Esteban Rodriguez, and Linda Michel-Cassidy, will also be assigning a selection of books, bringing an exciting perspective to Tupelo Quarterly’s already vibrant offerings in literary criticism. In the coming months, look for more review-essays, as well as small press features and discussions of new poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and hybrid texts. Lastly, Juliana Converse engages Eggplant Curse and the Warp Zone in prose that is lively and luminous.
Additionally, Julia Gibson has written a lyric appreciation of Glass Bikini by Kristin Bock, using this gorgeous work as a point of entry to larger questions about language, defamiliarization and wonder. Siegel offers a beautifully rendered discussion of an accomplished book, as well as a powerful meditation on the nuances of genre, experimentation, and compression. Gail Louise Siegel has contributed an incisive piece on Kim Chinquee’s SNOWDOG. I’m thrilled to introduce three new additions to the Reviews Page at Tupelo Quarterly.
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