A Tale of Magicians Who Puffed Up Money That Lost Its Puff

by Kaia Sand

Poetry. Literary Nonfiction. For over a decade now, Kaia Sand has been making magic with her ethical documentary poetry and prose around our globe's fragile ecology, economies and sites of resistance. In her first Tinfish Press book, REMEMBER TO WAVE (2010), she wrote about the secret histories of north Portland, Oregon where Japanese Americans were warehoused before they were sent inland to be interned, and where African American workers were squeezed into housing built on a flood plain. Her work is radically interdisciplinary, encompassing collage, the craft of sewing and metal work, and (in A TALE OF MAGICIANS THAT PUFFED UP MONEY UNTIL IT LOST ITS PUFF) a magic show that explains the 2008 crash to children young and old. This combination of serious whimsy characterizes Sand's work and is unique in contemporary American poetry.

100 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2016

Reviews

[Coleman Warner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I may not be the best person to gauge how well a piece of documentary poetry does it's job, but in some places it does it great but not in all of its place. Nonetheless, this stuff is really interesting.