aristosakaion's review
3.0
i've been reading Mookie's works retroactively, starting from Hush Harbor, to College Boy, to this one, her debut, released at the same time as elsewhere held and lingered and chiaroscuro.
the proxy eros is a collection written in sublime yearning. katigbak writes her longing so easily, the way you'd imagine an assassin would pull daggers from their sleeves. her inclination towards her western romantic influences appear in some of these poems in epigrams underneath her poems' titles. she uses shakespeare the way she used lines from emily dickinsons' poetry in one of my favorite katigbak poems, "even when i hold your letter in my hands, i am not touching you." one of my favorite characteristics of katigbak's poetry collection is she always finds a way to incorporate the literature she was greatly influenced by.
i'm a little conflicted with this, because while this collection has my one of my favorite poems ever, "as far as cho-fu-sa," some of the poems don't hit exactly, and i think it's only a matter of preference. katigbak's poetry is, i think, smoothly written and eloquent, lyrical to the extent that a nursery rhyme should be, fickle enough as rhetorics often are. but i think its the cleanness of some her poetry that turns me slightly off. some start off with great titles and pretty profound first few lines, only to dissolve, not in an explosion of glimmer but in fading light. i like my explosions, but this still incredibly well-written, and a profound first collection from someone who is becoming an important literary canon.
most memorable parts:
As Far As Cho-Fu-Sa: the entire poem, honestly, top to bottom. i have all of it sketched in my heart. and that ending? "somewhere / you are actual. happen to me there." absolute fucking fire.
Still Life: "Like wolves, our love blows houses down / spends us fast and spends us slow." when you start a poem like that best believe i'm in it for the entire thing.
I will Never Tell You The Meaning of This Poem: "it isn't the image moves narcissus, no, / but that he loves the river also."
the proxy eros is a collection written in sublime yearning. katigbak writes her longing so easily, the way you'd imagine an assassin would pull daggers from their sleeves. her inclination towards her western romantic influences appear in some of these poems in epigrams underneath her poems' titles. she uses shakespeare the way she used lines from emily dickinsons' poetry in one of my favorite katigbak poems, "even when i hold your letter in my hands, i am not touching you." one of my favorite characteristics of katigbak's poetry collection is she always finds a way to incorporate the literature she was greatly influenced by.
i'm a little conflicted with this, because while this collection has my one of my favorite poems ever, "as far as cho-fu-sa," some of the poems don't hit exactly, and i think it's only a matter of preference. katigbak's poetry is, i think, smoothly written and eloquent, lyrical to the extent that a nursery rhyme should be, fickle enough as rhetorics often are. but i think its the cleanness of some her poetry that turns me slightly off. some start off with great titles and pretty profound first few lines, only to dissolve, not in an explosion of glimmer but in fading light. i like my explosions, but this still incredibly well-written, and a profound first collection from someone who is becoming an important literary canon.
most memorable parts:
As Far As Cho-Fu-Sa: the entire poem, honestly, top to bottom. i have all of it sketched in my heart. and that ending? "somewhere / you are actual. happen to me there." absolute fucking fire.
Still Life: "Like wolves, our love blows houses down / spends us fast and spends us slow." when you start a poem like that best believe i'm in it for the entire thing.
I will Never Tell You The Meaning of This Poem: "it isn't the image moves narcissus, no, / but that he loves the river also."
More...