What We’re Reading: A Pound of Steam
A Pound of Steam by Dessa (Rain Taxi, 2013)
It’s no secret that here at Hazel & Wren we’re fans of Dessa. We spoke with her two years ago about her writing and reviewed her book Spiral Bound (2009) and short story “Sleeping With Nikki,” both from Doomtree’s press wing. Since then, she’s released a critically acclaimed album called Parts of Speech that has cemented her as rapper who has a true love of language and literature. Which is to say, it came as no surprise when Rain Taxi released her new chapbook, A Pound of Steam, earlier this year.
For those who have followed Dessa’s career and the varied writing she has done, it’s rather fascinating to see the way she compartmentalizes ideas and separates narrative types into different modes. These poems are contemplative and focus on the small details of their subjects. “Saya” wonders, for instance, whether a robot designed to teach schoolchildren “[…] sees in color— / maybe it’s just heat and motion […].”
I wonder if the children are free to touch her
and if they are
I wonder if she can feel it.
The minutia explored works well on the page where the content isn’t restricted by the constraints of a pop song.
A Pound of Steam is also free of constraints such as strict rhyme to the point that you can almost hear Dessa straining against that impulse. Oddly, this tension means that a musical throb underlies the poems, though she has freed herself of rap’s heavy meter also. The rhythm of these poems is subtler; an interplay between word choice and word order.
But our last long winter
washed the color from her face.
Now she cannot be induced to blush
for shame or love or fever.
—“The Clown’s New Wife”
There’s a slant rhyme here of winter/color/fever and some lovely consonance in washed, she, blush, and shame all of which seems to come from years of writing rap lyrics. While these poems don’t have the bombast of rap, they do ask to be read aloud.
Thematically, A Pound of Steam is satisfyingly cohesive, with naming and self-creation as central points that explore how these characters move through the world. The opening poem, “Dear Sir or Madam,” begins, “We changed your name while you were sleeping […]” and the following poem, “The Letter S.”, opens, “By the time that I arrived / you could not say my name […].” Even when names aren’t at the fore, invented or imagined self becomes the theme, as in “Kept Company” about an imaginary friend created by a young girl. The idea of self-creation, either through a name or a willful act of imagining, is an interesting concept from a writer who has spent much of her creative life in the public eye.
A Pound of Steam is a strong outing from Dessa who has been publicly finding her voice for the last several years, both as a writer and a musician. Every new project she releases is a little stronger than the last, a little more realized. She continues to challenge herself and her audience to branch out beyond the expected, and the results thus far have been stunning.
What other artists work in multiple genres and forms successfully?
Twin Cities Book Festival Winners!
Thanks to everyone who stopped by our table at Rain Taxi’s Twin Cities Book Festival last weekend! We had a blast meeting all of you.
For those of you who didn’t make it to the festival: your loss. No, really.* In addition to free, sassy letterpress bookmarks up for grabs, we also had two drawings to win a letterpress print of your choice: one, a general email club drawing, and the other, a Faux Ad contest. Since we had such a great turnout, we decided to pick two names out of a very cute hat for the email drawing. Our winners are (drumroll, please): Cat Holm and Mindy Rhiger. Congratulations, Cat and Mindy!
To enter the Faux Ad contest, visitors were tasked with writing a headline to accompany the lovely model shown below. As the pressure mounted, hair follicles tore from heads, arm pits gushed sweat, and fat tears rolled down cheeks. Yet somehow, despite all the agony, at the end of the day we had a bunch of hilarious headlines to choose from, including the winning line, by Ari Edes: “Orange juice after brushing your teeth is as gross as they said!” We’re proud of you, our dear, witty friends.
The moral of this story? Come visit us. We reward sass, sweat, and wit with free stuff. It’s awesome.
* But we forgive you anyway.
All I hear about lately in the Twin Cities literary scene is punch this, punch that, wanna get punched? No, Minneapolis is not getting over its Minnesota nice and finally going to B-E AGGRESSIVE. So what are they all so nutso about? It’s the new Twin Cities Literary Punch Card, which had its kick-off event last night at Club Jäger. Beers were had, tweeps met face-to-face, and elbows were rubbed with, well, everyone. It was a full house, eager to be punched.
The Punch Card is sponsored by a bunch of literary organizations in town (Coffee House Press, Milkweed Editions, Graywolf Press, Rain Taxi, and the Loft Literary Center), in partnership with a bunch of local, independent booksellers (Magers & Quinn, Micawbers, Common Good Books, and more). If you go to eligible literary events around town (most of them), you get your card punched. Once you fill it up (12 is the magic number), the punch card magically transforms into a $15 gift card to participating bookstores. It’s a great way to get the community excited and involved. Also a wonderful way to find out about some exciting events happening in the Twin Cities area with stellar writers.
For this week’s What We’re Reading, I’ve flagged a handful of upcoming Punch-eligible events that feature authors I’ve read recently. Click on them to find out more on our Mpls/St. Paul Literary Calendar, or visit Rain Taxi’s calendar.
1. Kathryn Kysar and Jim Moore (Sept 18)
If you haven’t read my What We’re Reading post on Kathryn Kysar‘s poetry collection Pretend The World, you should. It’s a beautiful collection on the reality of motherhood, of being a woman, and of nature.
I haven’t yet read much Jim Moore (do I see a Jim Moore WWR post in my future?), but he’s got loads of awards and published work. Have any of you read him? What is your take on his work?
2. Nancy Paddock (Sept 20)
I stumbled upon Paddock through my apprenticeship at Red Dragonfly Press, where I discovered many great poets. Paddock has a strong, calm voice, and writes about nature, the process of aging, and much more, always with a playful sense of wonder. This event focuses on her newest work, a memoir called A Song at Twilight: of Alzheimers and Love.
3. Danielle Sosin (Sept 22)
Sosin’s novel The Long-Shining Waters is on my list of favorite books from 2011. The story centers around Lake Superior, and the intense draw, frightening power, and dark mysticism it holds for three women, each living in different time periods near the lake. Sosin doesn’t just write the story—she crafts it. Each of the characters are significantly different, but are connected through this one natural landmark in such a unique and heart-wrenching way.
4. Ed Bok Lee and Bao Phi (Sept 24)
Lee and Phi are two spoken word poets who perform both on the local and national stage of slam poetry, with a big stir. They both explore racism, culture, and history with a fresh, current voice. While launching Lee’s and Phi’s newly released poetry collections (Whorled and Sông I Sing, respectively), this event also spotlights their publisher, Coffee House Press. It’s a slam-dunk evening with a reading, Q&A, conversation with the poets, spoken word artist Shá Cage emceeing, music from DJ Nak, and, of course, free refreshments. Check out the other spotlight events happening this fall, if you’re in town.
Are any other cities doing promotions like this to get literary people out and about? Have you read any of these writers? If so, what are your thoughts on their work?
