(7)

Cyrus Console. Brief Under Water. 2008.

Cyrus sent me this book a few months ago. It consists of prose poems numbered in binary code, with a unitary, pleasant and gently formulaic surface calm. The whole seems to be a novel about his brother? There is some resemblance to the poetry of Ben Lerner, to whom this book is dedicated. I expect great things out of Cyrus. There is nothing to criticize per se, no fault to be found. I wonder, though, whether the ironic use of formulaic phrases gets in the way of other kinds of poetic expression.

Nice blurb from Scalapino.