j/j hastains "new forms and meditations for the pressurized libertine monk" reviewed by Aimee Herman

Publisher: Scrambler Books
PubDate: 1/10/12
ISBN: 978-0-578-09770-1
Binding: PAPERBACK
Price: $13
Pages: 99




What is hybrid; or more importantly, how can language turn into itself in a way that looks and feels transformed? j/j hastain removes the familiar of a line or image. In doing this, there is a metamorphosis occurring on the page through photographic documentation and caption to the (sometimes) blur. Questions are being asked and the answers move far beyond the binding. “Does a practicing monk have a sexuality?/ a marrow etiquette?” How is one viewed/how does one view? j/j hastain challenges the need for answer by elongating the inquiry. There is a darkness within the retrieval of turn-ons and desires in this book, which cannot be entirely described as poems. Instead, read the moans captured "cells" like Rorschach tests allowing room for each pair of eyes to see/interpret something else. Choke on these configurations and revelations of self, and watch for a bubbling up of emotions to emerge. There is a change, a shift, a remodeling of body: “you so perfectly inseminating me/ turns my vagina into a cosmic eye.” Be prepared to travel, gather up passport and necessary documents. Readers will not be the same after this voyage onto planet j/j hastain.

-Aimee Herman

Buy the book here.