In Tray, A.L. Nielsen
admirably succeeds in “singing the holes in history.” Both
elegizing and investigating the death of Trayvon Martin in the long
poem that opens this book, Nielsen’s keen observation of history
(from King George to Sanford and Son) and deft sculpting of lines,
elicit intellectual as well as emotional engagement with America’s
continuous eruptions of racial violence. Elsewhere in the book,
Nielsen layers reminiscences of a Nebraska childhood and observations
about contemporary family life with cultural commentary that doesn’t
tell us what to think, but instead causes us to question what we
thought we already knew. This collection, influenced by a range of
writers from Amiri Baraka and Jayne Cortez, to Lyn Hejinian, is one
of Nielsen’s best.
– Kathy Lou Schultz
Available here: TRAY at Make Now Books
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