Muzzle Thyself - E-book - ePub

Nothing is pure or sacred in Muzzle Thyself. If it hasn't rubbed up against something or isn't sweating, it's of little concern to Lauren Fairbanks. Literary fragments, "found materials, " are organized in such a way as to appear unliterary. The narrative line breaks with authorial intrusion and other modes of interruption. Most poems end with a "slammed door" or a punchline. Muzzle Thyself is not lofty or nice, but it has juice.
It's a created world, a world reflecting one mind. The creation is complexly unrealistic, filled with humor, rubbish, and ambiguous information. Fairbanks is not looking for a momentary stay against confusion. Instead, she revels in life's chaos. Her poems are a celebration of what passes for life, fistfuls of glitter and noise in the street. The emphasis is on the page: words on paper. Period. The content should surprise.
Rather than what "they" want to hear (William Carlos Williams said), "Tell them something else." Fairbanks views herself as a point on the line. somewhere between imbecile bohemian and obtuse academic-but it's a hard-to-measure, crooked line.