Joshua Nilles is a poet in the best sense of the word. While so many writers have been co-opting new ways of being charming you with cutesy phrases and framing of the day, Joshua doesn’t do that. Thankfully uninfluenced by the minimal style gaining so much ground lately, his work at times feels reminiscent of William S. Burroughs’s (who gets a mention) cynical style. Largely focused on pop culture through diffuse means, his poetry is hyper articulate, employing a vast vocabulary. Yet this language, though extremely specific, leaves things cloudy. Having multiple perspectives and a narrative style doesn’t help the reader. My suggestion would be to give up and let the language take you where it may.
He has two collections of poetry coming out on Amazon on 12/08/10: “Thee Constellation is Off Deck” and “A Short Sleep Taking Effect”. Going through it, I notice a few wonderful details. One of the best features of the writing is how much is implied. Nothing here is directly spelled out for you. Reference-dropping barely exists in this territory, with music references to Elephant6, Flying Saucer Attack and Sufjan Stevens. Besides those few references, you have to feel your way around. Although you can get the mood, the poems require by their very nature multiple readings to fully grasp what is going on. It works as mood fodder anyway, since the open-ended nature of the writing allows you to project your own feelings towards it.
The language is forceful, direct, and paranoid. Little attempt is made to sugar-coat anything. Paranoia runs deep through each piece, either through the narrator’s doubt or worrying about what’s going to come. Illusions are made constantly to death, pain and weapons. Yet just as often are descriptions of the lulling lethargic laziness that makes such horrors possible. Watching MTV, being bored, napping and other non-productive habits is described with stunning accuracy.
Usually the phrase “overwritten” implies something bad, something awful. I don’t adhere to this. Being a fan of overwritten stuff, I counter that including so much details allows the reader to come up with their own scenario of what the words means. An obvious (and extreme) example of this would of course be “Finnegans Wake” which is written for and against the English language. Despite the obvious limitations of this approach, I ended up tearing up, especially towards the final pages of the book, as it felt like the dreamers were waking up.
Somehow, these poems achieve that hard to reach location. Mood seeps through in each line, but what exactly is happening? By using so many different words in bizarre contexts, Joshua forces you to construct meaning. I know most poets aim for this, but Joshua hits it. Lines like
“losers branching out in females to grow shit
males becoming fish to forget
their red coats exchanged
the city benefits
tha' sentence at a time
finds work for the plot carrying this faction”
Imply several different scenarios. Multiple visions like red coats, welfare, warfare, evolution all come flooding into the mind. Even continuing with the rest of the poem (Pete The C-Cast Bomber) does not clarify things. Parts of this are reminiscent of Pynchon’s better writing, of his work in creating moods and obscuring the truth behind the words. Remember “Gravity’s Rainbow” where Tyrone Slothrop searches for the 00000? While he’s searching for this, it is only implied that he is slowly losing his mind. Only after he becomes a member of the band “The Fools” does this become readily apparent.
This isn’t trendy writing. It isn’t even happy at all. But it is blunt, direct writing lacking any of the pseudo ‘just kidding’ stances that so many writers have been taking lately. Most writers of late have been hiding behind layers of irony; a few writers are able to avoid the fate that TV has dealt them. A few are able to move away from the mass conformist, almost copy-cat styles that permeate our society. I’m thankful to say that these two books of poetry do just that. Avoiding references is difficult, since it usually acts as a way to make a reader feel clever and the writer to feel smart. It is a joint operation on both ends. Somehow these two books are able to create an almost alternate reality.
What shocks me most is how absolutely flabbergasted I am at finding any comparison to this without going way far back. Musically, I guess I would state Whitehouse’s more recent lyrical output might give you some idea of what you’re up against. Brutal as it might be, I haven’t had this sort of reaction to poetry for quite some time. Please make sure to read this late at night with little distraction. I read these aloud in a gruff, almost broken voice. I suggest doing the same.