The Black Automaton

by Douglas Kearney

Overview

"Douglas Kearney's innovative new collection makes me tremble like a 'mouth and mind full of fish hooks.' . . . These poems literally vibrate with Kearney's precocious intellect and passion. They hum, they bang, they bite. What else can I say? I have never encountered poetry like this before."—Terrance Hayes

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781934200285
Publisher:	Fence Magazine, Incorporated
Publication date:	11/01/2009
Pages:	95
Sales rank:	926,635
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 6.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Douglas Kearney's work as a poet, performer and librettist has been featured in many venues in print, in-the-flesh and in digital code. His first book, Fear, Some, was published in 2006. In 2008, he was honored with a Whiting Writers Award. He lives in the Valley with his wife and teaches at California Institute of the Arts. For more info, visit www.douglaskearney.com.

Table of Contents

The Black Automaton in tag Radio Tallahatchie lullabye, baby The Black Automaton in de despair ub existence #3: How can I be down?
The Voltron communiques
"Spit out all bitterness"
The Black Automaton in what it is #2: Hypertension in effizzect Malik considers the winter semester The Black Automaton in de despair ub existence #1: Up ye mighty race!!!
Showtime in the burning city The Black Automaton in what it is #1: Getting off the pot City with fire and a gray Toyota Fish hook lure City with fire and a piece of silver The City vs. John Henry City with fire and a choir at rest The Black Automaton in tag Floodsong 1: Canal rats' chantey Floodsong 2: Water moccasin's spiritual Floodsong 3: Alligator's quiet storm Swimchant for nigger mer-folk The Black Automaton in tag Flotsam Floodsong 4: Mosquitoes' drinking ditty Floodsong 5: Bullfrog's liturgy of the Eucharist Floodsong 6: Gull's madsong Floodsong 7: Catfish's bounce Floodsong 8: Strayed dog's call &
The Black Automaton in de despair ub existence #2: Our new day begun City of searchlights and dead cats The cruel, cruel city The Black Automaton in what it is #3: Work it out Eric visits Mr. Butler's Recycling the city The six cities Notes, Acknowledgments

What People are Saying About This

Terrance Hayes

"Douglas Kearney's innovative new collection makes me tremble like a 'mouth and mind full of fish hooks.' It makes me think of the despair at the heart of ecstasy; of restlessness as a kind of anodyne. These poems literally vibrate with Kearney's precocious intellect and passion. They hum, they bang,, they bite. This is a jaw-dropping, electrifying book. What else can I Say? I have never encountered poetry like this before."

Editorial Reviews

Like textual Transformers assembled from segments of popular culture, music, urban history, and identity politics, Kearney's inventive poems challenge and beguile with surprising directness ("who you can be is what you can get"), acrobatic diction ("skin scow skiffs upon pond scum skin/ going slow along the hollow"), and disarming eloquence (e.g., voicemail is "just the thing/ that's there to be what's missing"). Following on 2006's Fear, Some, this second collection feels grounded and deeply felt despite its pyrotechnic typographics (hip-hop samplings cluster and tumble in harlequined fonts) and its allusions to subjects as varied as the anime robot lions of Voltron, the Los Angeles riots, and the legend of John Henry. A librettist, Kearney employs musical structures derived from blues, gospel, and rap while earnestly addressing difficult topics like the social construction of race and class ("the first black you met was on the radio./ This is true even if you lived with blacks") and the volatility of urban life. VERDICT Kearney's idiosyncratically experimental poetry, though rooted in lived experience, will likely draw strong reactions both positive and negative, but its verve, craft, and originality are undeniable.—Fred Muratori, Cornell Univ. Lib., Ithaca, NY

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