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Ordinary Sun
by
Matthew Henriksen (Goodreads Author)
Poetry. Henriksen opens ORDINARY SUN by insisting that "an eye is not enough." Resisting solipsism, these poems negotiate that conflict between the mind and what exists outside the mind. Though pain intrinsically resides in that conflict Henriksen strives for an honest happiness, a kind of gorgeous suffering that blesses our days. To this end, these poems emerge from image...more
Paperback, 120 pages
Published
February 7th 2011
by Black Ocean
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My favourites sections were Corolla in the Midden, The New Surrealism, and the last section Ordinary Sun. Although that might change. I read it on the tube in London during my three hours of commuting and immediately started re-reading the book from the beginning again today. A rarity. I think I will re-read this book at least four times on the tube this week. It has me smitten.
Black Ocean is up there with the best of what is being put out these days. But this is nothing like the other books I...more
Black Ocean is up there with the best of what is being put out these days. But this is nothing like the other books I...more
I really love this book. For some reason, I struggled through the first half--up through "The Talk" section, but the something clicked for me starting with the next section. Probably it had more to do with me than the book or perhaps I just finally fell into the rhythm of the poems. I really love "The New Surrealism" and the title poem--and the poem "Insomnia" is fantastic--"why must it be so late, so bright, and so early." Strongly recommended.
Side note: I voted for this book for Best Poetry Book of 2011 on GoodReads last year. Before I had read it. That's how good it is.
I am truly, truly awful at processing poetry. I love looking at words on a page and often times I will feel like I enjoy a poem but I can't really pinpoint the reasons why. I read this book feeling semi-attached to some poems. Then about halfway through "Corolla in the Midden" something changed for me. The words began to mean new things. (I wish I wasn't inept) I rere...more
I am truly, truly awful at processing poetry. I love looking at words on a page and often times I will feel like I enjoy a poem but I can't really pinpoint the reasons why. I read this book feeling semi-attached to some poems. Then about halfway through "Corolla in the Midden" something changed for me. The words began to mean new things. (I wish I wasn't inept) I rere...more
Two from Ordinary Sun by Matthew Henriksen:
As the Nude Composite Wishes for Heat without Violence
I wept lost amid the wallpaper's mimicked
church garden. I taught harmonies to wires.
The buzzing grew less distant and implied
the complicity of the whole belongs
to the choked mouth's consent.
A box goes on forever. Set on a rail,
a box becomes a sky. There's a blanket
underground, I understand.
Constellations froze on the eye of the dog
chained to the metal post I hammered home.
* * * * *
Resolution
The drift...more
As the Nude Composite Wishes for Heat without Violence
I wept lost amid the wallpaper's mimicked
church garden. I taught harmonies to wires.
The buzzing grew less distant and implied
the complicity of the whole belongs
to the choked mouth's consent.
A box goes on forever. Set on a rail,
a box becomes a sky. There's a blanket
underground, I understand.
Constellations froze on the eye of the dog
chained to the metal post I hammered home.
* * * * *
Resolution
The drift...more
This is a truly great collection. I've read a lot of great poetry this year, but only by a handful of dead or very old poets. Most of the more contemporary poetry I've read has been good and I can recognise it as good, but this is the first one I felt was good, if that makes sense.
It's powerful and beautiful and sometimes vicious. I don't know if I've ever read poetry that made me feel that anger so much.
Really, just read this. Buy a copy and maybe one more, just in case.
It's powerful and beautiful and sometimes vicious. I don't know if I've ever read poetry that made me feel that anger so much.
Really, just read this. Buy a copy and maybe one more, just in case.
fantastic poetry. accessible to non-poets, yet fascinating to poetry lovers
Engaged throughout the whole thing but really felt like the final few sequences--"The New Surrealism" & "Beulah's Rest"--were the beating heart/spewing whatever of this book. There's a great mix of dense, imagistic lines with lines that are pretty much shrugs--
Horizon to scold the tongues down. The golden bed of torture.
...
Never again became a rip, a mole's undoing, a hawk's cry.
In all that nonsense I became a gun.
It's raining now, goddamn.
Horizon to scold the tongues down. The golden bed of torture.
...
Never again became a rip, a mole's undoing, a hawk's cry.
In all that nonsense I became a gun.
It's raining now, goddamn.
this is really fucking awesome. homeboy got dialectics.
WONDERFUL WONDERFUL BOOK.
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Oct 30, 2012 06:45pm