Throaty Wipes
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
With its words planted firmly in cheek, Throaty Wipes does surprising things – like write a poem on a calculator!
In 1934, Gertrude Stein asked, ‘What is poetry and if you know what poetry is what is prose.’ Throaty Wipes answers this question and many more! How does broadband work? Does ‘chuffed’ mean pleased or displeased? What if the generations of Adam had mothers? What do the Disney Princesses eat for breakfast? Through her signature fusion of formal innovation and lyricism, Holbrook delivers what we’ve been waiting for.
'Here is language that has a joyous physicality, reminding us that language and, therefore, poetry is first and foremost a physical act involving the muscles of the lips, tongue and jaw; here is language that, for all its playfulness and humour, is honed against the hard edges of a post-postmodern, globalized world. Formally adventurous, Throaty Wipes refracts a mash-up of consumer society replete with Disney Princesses; Barbie dolls; Biblical myth; romantically adapted fishing instructions; the hard, hard work of birthing; surgery; the body in all its vulnerabilities; medical procedures; running; and PIN numbers for starters. Holding it all together is an overarching intelligence shot through with a lambent compassion for the ultimately fragile human condition. Throaty Wipes shows us how poetry is always about risk-taking inside and outside of language.'
– M. NourbeSe Philip
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This poetry collection from Holbrook (Joy Is so Exhausting) finds its connecting theme in skillful experimentation. It is a highly enthusiastic body of work that employs wildly varied forms, including free verse, found poetry, shape poetry, play with typesetting, and far more inventive expression. Indeed, the inventiveness is what sustains the collection in places where the poetry grows distant. Holbrook's quite impressive sense of play is balanced with a self-referential approach that keeps readers from fully understanding what she is putting on display or why. In that sense, the book as a whole mirrors some of the more abstract or found pieces in which components are visibly withheld or mismatched, and sorting them out can be part of the fun and engagement with the text. But over the course of the book, it's hard for readers to sustain investment because they are perpetually held at arm's length. Without meaning or context, the poems do not linger in one's memory as more intimate poems can. Despite that, there is much to like in this collection, and Holbrook's work is always worth reading, even when it's overly ephemeral.
