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A review by brice_mo
Every Where Alien by Brad Walrond
2.5
Thanks to NetGalley & Amistad for the ARC!
Brad Walrond’s Every Where Alien is feverish and oppressive in its history, but how else could one present a history so full of oppression?
The book feels deeply influenced by ballroom music and culture—these poems stick to readers like sweat-soaked clothes, gradually chafing into full-blown sores by the end of the collection. Like a night of dance, their cumulative effect is far greater than their individual memorability. Even so, they feel intensely and purposefully situated, both in history and geography, as seen in the fantastic “They Crowned Him: An Elegy to Kalief Browder.” This is where Walrond’s political engagement and ear for musicality seem to converge into more than the sum of their parts, and I wish the rest of the book shared this focus.
Personally, I feel that the poems are a little too frictionless and fragmentary, with lines feeling almost interchangeable across the entirety of the book. They wash over the reader as the memory of a mood, never quite forming their own shape. A notable exception to this is the titular poem, which Walrond has also recorded to great effect on Alien Day. There are certain kinds of poems that can only live well as performance, and that feels true of this book as a whole. I would love to hear it spoken, with space for the audience to respond to resonant lines.
In this particular form, though, I imagine that Every Where Alien will be exciting for people who already like Brad Walrond’s work but unmemorable for most other readers.
Brad Walrond’s Every Where Alien is feverish and oppressive in its history, but how else could one present a history so full of oppression?
The book feels deeply influenced by ballroom music and culture—these poems stick to readers like sweat-soaked clothes, gradually chafing into full-blown sores by the end of the collection. Like a night of dance, their cumulative effect is far greater than their individual memorability. Even so, they feel intensely and purposefully situated, both in history and geography, as seen in the fantastic “They Crowned Him: An Elegy to Kalief Browder.” This is where Walrond’s political engagement and ear for musicality seem to converge into more than the sum of their parts, and I wish the rest of the book shared this focus.
Personally, I feel that the poems are a little too frictionless and fragmentary, with lines feeling almost interchangeable across the entirety of the book. They wash over the reader as the memory of a mood, never quite forming their own shape. A notable exception to this is the titular poem, which Walrond has also recorded to great effect on Alien Day. There are certain kinds of poems that can only live well as performance, and that feels true of this book as a whole. I would love to hear it spoken, with space for the audience to respond to resonant lines.
In this particular form, though, I imagine that Every Where Alien will be exciting for people who already like Brad Walrond’s work but unmemorable for most other readers.