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domina Un/blued
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"Ruth Ellen Kocher's masterful fourth volume of poetry domina Un/blued is a book-length meditation on ownership, dominion, and domination. With admirable dexterity the book both decries power and celebrates empowerment. Perforated by white space, the poems seem to hover above the page, systematically undermining a linear reading. domina Un/blued is at once deeply moving and wildly intelligent . . . a wonderful book--sophisticated, beautiful, and innovative." -- Lynn Emanuel
"In domina Un/blued, Ruth Ellen Kocher painstakingly manipulates verse, visual field, and linguistics to reveal the historical violence and very personal implications of dominion, enslavement, and diaspora. The poems stutter and shudder through their observations toward their discoveries, merciless, feminist, and unforgiving. This is a book about power and powerlessness, and about suffering, about which Kocher is, unfortunately, never wrong." -- Kathy Fagan --Advance Praise
About the Author
Ruth Ellen Kocher's previous books include Desdemona's Fire (Naomi Long Madget Award for African American Poets; Lotus Press, 1999), When the Moon Knows You're Wandering (Green Rose Prize; New Issues, 2001), and One Girl Babylon (New Issues, 2003). Her poems have appeared in many anthologies, including Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poets, and New Bones: Contemporary Black Writing in America. She teaches in the M.F.A. program at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
"Ruth Ellen Kocher's masterful fourth volume of poetry domina Un/blued is a book-length meditation on ownership, dominion, and domination. With admirable dexterity the book both decries power and celebrates empowerment. Perforated by white space, the poems seem to hover above the page, systematically undermining a linear reading. domina Un/blued is at once deeply moving and wildly intelligent . . . a wonderful book--sophisticated, beautiful, and innovative." -- Lynn Emanuel
"In domina Un/blued, Ruth Ellen Kocher painstakingly manipulates verse, visual field, and linguistics to reveal the historical violence and very personal implications of dominion, enslavement, and diaspora. The poems stutter and shudder through their observations toward their discoveries, merciless, feminist, and unforgiving. This is a book about power and powerlessness, and about suffering, about which Kocher is, unfortunately, never wrong." -- Kathy Fagan --Advance Praise
About the Author
Ruth Ellen Kocher's previous books include Desdemona's Fire (Naomi Long Madget Award for African American Poets; Lotus Press, 1999), When the Moon Knows You're Wandering (Green Rose Prize; New Issues, 2001), and One Girl Babylon (New Issues, 2003). Her poems have appeared in many anthologies, including Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poets, and New Bones: Contemporary Black Writing in America. She teaches in the M.F.A. program at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
- GenresPoetry
72 pages, Paperback
First published April 30, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 20, 2013
I feel so lucky that I get to start my writing day by reading this book. It's inspirational in a lot of ways: 1. It's beautiful on the page. 2. It's brave in content and form. 3. It's innovative, fresh.
I love Douglas Kearney's blurb. He says "I did not read this book, I submitted to it." And I felt the same way. The rhythms lulled me. The form controlled me. The images sent my brain flying to new and useful thoughts.
Here are some of my favorite moments in the book:
"Long ago everyone knew what mist destroyed."
"the writing done by the slave in a notebook belongs to no one
no one belongs to the slave"
"a brief underside of porous leaf slick in its place"
"look to the western sky which
undoes itself"
"imagine every cut coming back to you"
"Butter-sex. Onion-sex. Spoon."
"from far away the canvas is not blank but also not yours"
"the straddled sternum's cleft paddle"
"how awful the art of real and pathetic happiness"
"but there is no tree in this poem only the word tree"
I love Douglas Kearney's blurb. He says "I did not read this book, I submitted to it." And I felt the same way. The rhythms lulled me. The form controlled me. The images sent my brain flying to new and useful thoughts.
Here are some of my favorite moments in the book:
"Long ago everyone knew what mist destroyed."
"the writing done by the slave in a notebook belongs to no one
no one belongs to the slave"
"a brief underside of porous leaf slick in its place"
"look to the western sky which
undoes itself"
"imagine every cut coming back to you"
"Butter-sex. Onion-sex. Spoon."
"from far away the canvas is not blank but also not yours"
"the straddled sternum's cleft paddle"
"how awful the art of real and pathetic happiness"
"but there is no tree in this poem only the word tree"
April 10, 2013
This book is art. I love the variety of structures and the use of white space. It's spare, but it doesn't feel spare. The poems intrigued me into wanting to know more about such things as where the concept for Corinthian columns comes from and dominant/submissive communication.
July 16, 2023
The last few poems in this collection really pack a punch. I'm not always a fan of the tons-of-white-space style of poetry, but it really worked for this.
August 30, 2014
In the anti-aesthetic shatter of the post-post-post, any art that is at all representational, any language that is at all eloquent, any verse that is at all unified is at best suspect, and at worst disrespected.
In the best poems in this collection, Kocher makes good use of the shatter to unveil the slave/dominant relationship, whether individual or societal. Perhaps despite herself, some lines approach a kind of eloquence.
Then there are “Un/blued” which repeats E/empire empire Empire over and over in three columns. I get it. I get it. I get it.
The extravagant use of white space mostly works to convey the shatter as well. Such use can be mere laziness, but that does not seem so here. The theme of domination/slavery also mostly works, approaching a versified “Fifty Shades” but not falling into it. Sometimes the fragmentation of dialogue conveys the shatter. Other times it seems pseudo-Wasteland.
All in all, I would argue that readers of poetry should spend one trip though this collection. It is very much worth one reading. Some poems merit rereading, such as:
“Near Torre Argentina”
“Exercise 17”
“D/domina: Daughter”
“D/domina: Forgetting the Tree”
and especially “D/domina: Issues Involving Interpretation”
In the best poems in this collection, Kocher makes good use of the shatter to unveil the slave/dominant relationship, whether individual or societal. Perhaps despite herself, some lines approach a kind of eloquence.
Then there are “Un/blued” which repeats E/empire empire Empire over and over in three columns. I get it. I get it. I get it.
The extravagant use of white space mostly works to convey the shatter as well. Such use can be mere laziness, but that does not seem so here. The theme of domination/slavery also mostly works, approaching a versified “Fifty Shades” but not falling into it. Sometimes the fragmentation of dialogue conveys the shatter. Other times it seems pseudo-Wasteland.
All in all, I would argue that readers of poetry should spend one trip though this collection. It is very much worth one reading. Some poems merit rereading, such as:
“Near Torre Argentina”
“Exercise 17”
“D/domina: Daughter”
“D/domina: Forgetting the Tree”
and especially “D/domina: Issues Involving Interpretation”
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews