Fence Books (paperback, 03/31/2020)
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New & Noteworthy: Catherine Wagner’s
Of Course is of a warped language at high speeds, obsessed with misinterpretation and representation, with getting through the noise of the world’s detestable, weedy golf-course backgrounds, the seedy city and its under-highway bugs. Who gets to play here, to sex, to say? There’s an instinct toward sonic, physical pleasure, which obliterates the very idea of empathy. “An I was built to rip a / we apart?” In a disarming critique of academic free discourse and domination, and a titillating examination of poetry’s role in society, Wagner sideswipes at mundanity’s cadence, offering up a rueful ride through her internal voyages. Any student of poetry will find refuge here, or else be completely totaled by Wagner’s “record of expansion,” provisional talk, and hearsay.
