95 Books In 2006, George W. Bush read 95 books. We will do better.

44. How to Write by derek beaulieu

I’m not gonna lie; I didn’t believe this book (echoes of Stein) could actually tell me how to write. But it did, exhaustively. Language and conceptualisms engage with narrative, sentence and procedure to form a new kind of taxonomy. The most successful is the final poem “How to write”, which captures material from 40 disparate English language texts to enact writing.

45. Joy Is So Exhausting by Susan Holbrook

Joy Is So Exhausting is anything but exhausting. Rather, it is playful, sensuous, quirky, poignant, inspiring and invigorating. Holbrook shows us the sound/meaning possibilities of language in a way that is funny but never silly. I wonder why more poets don’t use words the way she does? 

46. The Sorrow and the Fast of It by Nathalie Stephens

I enjoyed Stephens’ melancholic lyricism throughout this story that is not a story, but I did grow frustrated at the way she tends to circle around some unspeakable horror without naming it. I believe portentous is the word. That said, there is an ineffable beauty in her circling around madness, splitting and disgust. “The body foretold the city.”

47. R’s Boat by Lisa Robertson

Narrative, aphorisms, daily affirmations, sentence structure, repetition, silence, gender, language, form, abstraction, dialogue.

-Nikki