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If I Falter at the Gallows
by
Edward Mullany (Goodreads Author)
Edward Mullany's first book is a collection of poems that Graham Foust called "devices that help us help ourselves to all the mirages and illusions—and then some—that we know to be true."
Paperback, 83 pages
Published
October 25th 2011
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I read Edward Mullany’s phenomenal collection If I Falter at the Gallows while sitting alone at the Laundromat. I sipped a strong cup of coffee as I watched my pants, socks, briefs, and so on flop and tick in steady circles. I picked up Mullany’s book, read a piece, put it down, pondered, repeated. When I finished, I felt clean and fresh, and also inspired.
The Not So Simple Truth
Potatoes. Dirt and
water. And a soft
towel left for us while
we shower. These
things are no
truer for their
plainness tha...more
The Not So Simple Truth
Potatoes. Dirt and
water. And a soft
towel left for us while
we shower. These
things are no
truer for their
plainness tha...more
Mullany's poems are short, spooky things. They seem to distill life into hyper close-up, a white sheet falling from space or the all-encompassing hum of a blowdryer. There is a dry humor throughout as well and it pops its head up at the most unexpected times (inciting uneasy laughter). This collection signals the arrival of a new magician in the short poem genre.
I will echo much of what other reviewers have already said about Edward Mullany's If I Falter at the Gallows. This book is a treasure of 70ish micro-poems. The first poem has eleven words. Some are longer. All are strange, but not in the alienating way of the hip writing of today's oh-so-cool indie poets. This is because Mullany doesn't shirk being vulnerable. These poems let you into their strangeness. Strange in a joyously laughable way. Strangely heartbreaking. Strangely poignant. Strange as...more
Even if you don't like much poetry, you likely might like this poetry. Edward Mullany's poems will stay with you long after you've read them. They will make you think - they demand it. And they make you think about things you might not want to think about. That is part of what makes them so good.
This kept going as good as it started. I probably should have enjoyed this at a slower pace, though... I'll have to come back through it a piece at a time in the future. It changes gears, it goes here and there. Enjoy.
I'm not sure what I want to say about poetry with the rules/lack of rules in poetry, but I found some of these poems too short to mean much, and others totally befuddling (like 14 hairdryers). A lot of them read more like fortune cookies, so, if you like that!
Mullany's poetry serves as tiny spaces of affect that begin in terror and grow from there. A lovely absurdity, death is.
review + interview forthcoming at Monkeybicycle
1 like · like · see review
view 2 comments
Ed's poems are snow angels
I bought this at a bookstore in Bmore because it had a dog on the cover. Sometimes I imagine that really small poems maybe don't contain much depth, but I was pretty taken with this book. I read it twice while I was at BWI waiting for my plane. I'm not quite sure yet about the collection being in 2 parts--if that has meaning--I would need to actually think about it more. But I'm in Taiwan and cannot sleep, which means I'm not really going to think about this right now. Anyway, I thought this was...more
Added a fifth star after noticing how often I remember lines or scenes and go back and read these.
AMERICAN GOTHIC
A woman with a gun, and a man
with a gun, and a child with a gun, and a dog with
a gun held between its two
front paws face
the camera.
DEMONOLOGY
If two
men
encounter, on
the road out
of the city, one man coming
into the city, they
will agree (having observed
him from a long
way off) on whether or how
to greet him.
AMERICAN GOTHIC
A woman with a gun, and a man
with a gun, and a child with a gun, and a dog with
a gun held between its two
front paws face
the camera.
DEMONOLOGY
If two
men
encounter, on
the road out
of the city, one man coming
into the city, they
will agree (having observed
him from a long
way off) on whether or how
to greet him.
read this book!!!!
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