A BOOK IS A BOOK IS A BOOK

"More and more, I'm being asked to review poetry books (something I do haphazardly). I'm not irritated or anything like that when I'm asked. What I do get irritated by is how people who ask....don't send me a review copy. Suck it in, people. If you wanna ask a favor, invest in the cost of the review copy!

Which is to say, some poet-peeps of late ALSO say they'd be willing to send an e-file if I wanna review their books. That's even more irritating to me -- it just means you're not understanding something about the "bookness" of the book. Otherwise, why not just xerox sheaves of paper together? Why create a "book"?!

Now some reviewers, I understand, do prefer e-files vs the real book object. Okay, that's their prerogative. But it's one thing to give them that option vs positing that's the only alternative for their reviewing the book. You don't gain without investing (the cost of the book) and it's, in my opinion, just plain rude anyhoo.

Which is a ranting introduction to lead me to say re said notion of bookness:

How the "book" is a form that warrants its own raison d'etre is magnificently manifested by Mark Lamoureux's Film Poems (Katalanche Press, 2005). (Btw, Mark or his publisher didn't ask me to write about his collection; I'm just doing so voluntarily.) Here's an excerpt from a brief prefatory note wherein Mark shares:

"These poems were written in the darkened theater as the films themselves took place on the screen...Thus, the poems are an attempt to mimetically simulate the experience of viewing the films: as the film unfolds for the first time, so does the poem -- consequently each poem's destination is uncertain. Like film, the poem are intended as an homage to light and time."

And, yes, the texts convince that Lamoureux achieved what he intended. I savored many of the poems; here's the beginning of "ARTAVARZD PELESHIEN: 'MY (WE)'"

Mountain breath

.........lame eyed atmospheric
........................perspective

the air overhead hangs hands

the coffin
schema wave pulse

...........blood made of men & women

(I insert the dots above to create indents as I'm too lazy to figure out how to create space-caesuras.)

Now y'all are smart Peeps so I know I don't have to ponderously explicate how the sample reflects the poet's intention to pay homage to time and light.

Or, check out this short poem in its totality:

ARTAVAZD PELESHIAN
"ZHIZN [LIFE]"

.....A face ........ sweat

.....................blue light

...............................a baby

I have no idea what this particular movie is about. But if you eliminate the title, the words transcend their source. The words can be about so many other things that the reader's subjectivity can conjure: e.g. all sorts of births, from a baby to a book to a painting and so on. Nifty -- the space for the reader!

But what I also want to share is the "bookness" or physicality of the book which would be lost were I to be writing about the same collection but by simply looking at an e-file or pdf.

The cover is or looks like corrugated cardboard. There is a black-and-white sticker that announces the title 'FILM POEMS" with "FILM" against a white backdrop and "POEMS" against a black backdrop. Open it to see -- YADDA! -- a blue transparent film or film-like plastic thingie. The paper stock is glossy -- filmy, get it? The choice of font exudes -- to my eyes -- a noir-ishness. To wit, the object beautifully attests to its theme: "film poems"!!

One might quibble and ask what the heck corrugated cardboard has to do with the title. From a sculptural perspective, its surprise and texture emphasizes the film-ey contents (Check! did my art critic thing du jour with this paragraph). Brilliant book design, in other words.

UPDATE: After writing and posting this post, I learn that, actually, Mick at Katalancha Press designed the book to look like an issue of Film Culture magazine from the 60's that has a similar corrugated look. Yadda!

I am grateful this arrived unexpectedly in my snailmail box. But you, too, can exult in this exulting experience for a mere $6: Mark Lamoureux's Film Poems.

--Eileen Tabios, from The Chatelaine's Poetics