I had never read any of Crispin Best's work before, so maybe it was the dreamy cover with colours like candy necklaces that sold me, or the simple yet very inviting title: 'Hello' . But regardless of what compelled me to delve in I am very content with my choices!!! I also know Bjork is a fan, so if it is good enough for Queen Bjork it is good enough for me!
Immediately I swooned at the opening poem's finishing lines: "and to the man who told me there is too much me/ in my poems/ hello". Horrendously cheesy as it is, I (try to) write with a soppy and aimless agenda. I simply want my poems to live. For my poems to be animated spaces (never cages) so the emotions/souls inside our evil faces can stretch their legs and walk over to each other. (I will not go into the problems intertwined with believing you can speak for others, or the lie of stable and singular subjectivity- I simply do not have the answers atm). However I also love exploring the sub-consious/ wierdo side of my own 'private' mind without trying to invite anyone else in. Whether writing of *myself* or mingling subjectivities, in workshopping on occasion I too have been "accused" of being too personal, of writing poems too redolent with strangers that the reader doesn't care about... HELLO CRISPIN BEST!!! SENDING POETRY VIBRATIONS!!!
In this debut full collection are poems that prance in a miasma of strange cuteness, quietly yet obstinately evoking a voice that is not timid per say, but still doesn't want the boredom of the limelight. Sometimes the voice reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut in 'Slaughter House 5'; straddling between realities without ever becoming angry in confusion. Best also reminded me of Hera Lindsay Bird's writing, but Best's voice has less of the sardonic, eye-rolling wit of Bird. Both writers engage with sentimentality in very interesting ways, and both are very modern/internet poets. If you have not yet, I highly recommend visiting Bird's and Best's websites for their writing: Internet poetry at their finest!!!!!!!
Here are some words to help me explain the MOOD 'Hello' emits: unreal, stunted sentimentality, tender, under-cutting, internal, subtly brash, dreamy, soft and comforting. Reading 'Hello' feels like if you walked around a cul-de-sac tripping on acid listening to Groove Armada. I am talking about how I feel rather than what I think because I'm not too sure any of these poems are strictly 'about' anything: they capture and explore how we look at things, and what looking (and noticing- what the object we see, speaks) makes us feel. I think that's what's so interesting: there's an absurd/childish, head-in-the-clouds tone which could make you believe these poems are unconnected to the world around us. But like scaffolding around the surreality, a very modern world appears: one where people escape ceaseless stresses in the small seconds they can. Staring at socks or dreaming of dolphins. Somebody described the poems as having a 'faux naivety' and I think that summarizes my point v nicely.
Some have called Crispin Best's writing twee, but I don't think that is wholly accurate. 'Twee' makes it seem like the poems are trying to be quirky, like they are putting on an act how some people talk in baby voices around those they want to fuck. In my mind, these poems are very insular and self-assured, they are soft but don't shout about it. The poetics are not vapid or wholly preoccupied with aesthetics (though I did LOVE that a poem sequence is organized using little dolphins at the top of each page). They exhibit a muted anguish, and if Best's writing is bijou or cute it is cute with a very existential streak. Like a philosopher pug, or the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland but a bit less pompous and with a messier room.
If you want poems to read in a field of daisies with your phone on silent, examining bugs and the shapes of clouds, the possibilities of infinity: then you might like this book. It is friendly, unique and original. So for now, I say good bye to 'Hello' on this blog post, but I hope that you will say Hi too!!!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
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