Ana Carrete - WHY FI (2014) This is the second zine of new poetry Ana Carrete has published this year, the first was SADMESS. I'm surprised at how quickly she has put out these zines while still retaining quality in the writing. They're like rap mixtapes released in quick succession. She released this one in June and the earlier one in March or February? Maybe? WHY FI is 40 pages of mostly short poems. The language is really direct and the tone is earnest. Carrete is incredibly direct about her feelings but the tone remains confident, funny, cute enough that its never saccharine. Her work reminds me of Dorothea Lasky in that sense. There is a similar balance & a narrator that is daring and teasing in their earnestness. The short poem "Diminish My Skin" is an oulipo style experimental poem in which all of the words only use the vowel "i". It begins with simple short words and ends with "i think i'll birth primitivism". While Sadmess contained illustrations and emoji poems, WHY FI has banner phrases written in novelty fonts as well as poems composed of tweet drafts. It begins with a story about being slapped by her mother as a child and continues with stress about sexism, meditations on the body, and anxiety about student loans and job prospects. A great collection, I hope that there are more coming.
No comments:
Post a Comment