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Grabbing pussy

Karen Finley

Book - 2018

"Based on her widely praised performance piece Unicorn Gratitude Mystery ("Wickedly funny," as described by The New York Times), Karen Finley's Grabbing Pussy explores the Shakespearean dynamics that surface when libidos and loyalties clash in the public and private personas of Donald Trump, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner, and now Harvey Weinstein. Standing in the tradition of Allen Ginsberg's Howl, Finley's words jolt the reader into new insights about the ways the darkly private can drive the public realm in dizzying twists and turns. The aggression of intimacy, the disparity of gender, and the vital importance of hair are all encompassed in Finley's exhilarating canter."--...Amazon.com.

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Subjects
Genres
Poetry
Published
New York : OR Books [2018]
Language
English
Main Author
Karen Finley (author)
Item Description
Poems
Physical Description
164 pages ; 18 cm
ISBN
9781944869953
9781682191590
Contents unavailable.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

The controversial performance artist and social commentator indulges in a Trump-bashing frenzy.Finley (The Reality Shows, 2011, etc.) finds her ultimate target in the current president. This amalgam of creative prose and freestyle poetry floods vitriol on the words and actions of Trump. Like in some of her previous workse.g. George and Martha, her burlesque of a love affair between George Bush and Martha Stewartthe author attempts to transmogrify a bottomless liberal rage into moving, provocative, and occasionally hilarious art. Most pieces approximate Finley's real-time experience of watching the debates, the 2016 election, Trump's inauguration and Cabinet appointments, and the seemingly endless scandals besetting American politics, and most chapters feature the author's stream-of-consciousness conversation with herself. Other sections explore alternative narrative forms and inhabit the voices of key players, including Trump himself, pointedly sinking to his level in a satiric travesty of his political debate foibles that derails into ad hominem attacks and inverted objectifications of the male body, eventually erupting in a lively six-page roster of demeaning euphemisms for the penis (highlights include "Mighty Mouse" and "Dr. Peeper"). Recurring sections inhabit Hillary Clinton's inner monologue and imaginatively re-create private content like the string of in-house emails (or "emales") devoted to policing Clinton's supposed lack of femininity and fashion sense. Finley's signature shock value registers as rather less extreme in the present media climate, and her comedy elicits little engagement beyond a mirthless laugh at the edge of bitter despair. The poems distinguish themselves from the freestyle prose (just barely) due to their greater reliance on sound and rhythmic intonations of vengeful vituperation. One imagines these pieces playing better at a spoken word slam or a Moth performance than in print, but as with the recent retrospective of her collected works, Finley seems determined to transmit and to get on the record just how much she truly abhors this president and everything he supports.Unsparing, hate-fueled diatribes serving as an implicit rebuttal of the "kill 'em with kindness" approach. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

TRUMP FUCKED UP "Look at those hands, are they small hands?" the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination said, raising them for viewers to see. "And, he referred to my hands--'if they're small, something else must be small.' I guarantee you there's no problem. I guarantee." Dear Mr. Trump, We are so happy to know and greatly relieved to know that your penis is guaranteed to be working just fine. We as a nation are rest assured by the working order, size, construction, demolition, and planning of your penis. As a man who likes to build things, the comparison is clear. We really don't care, but we are rest assured that you took the time, your valuable time away from important matters of the economy, the state, and the well-being of our citizens to spend time on this important matter of your penis size. We are so relieved that you straightened it out. Since the beginning of time we have known about the fear of men and the size of their instrument and you have let us be aware that this is what drives you--the size and working order of your penis. Of course, it is an imperative and personal matter of the body - but is it that it might not always work? Just wondering. Since we know from your Twitter feed and rallies and golf games that you don't get out much, and that you don't read or explore or reflect, that you're not curious - we wanted to let you know that it doesn't always work, and with age and experience and sometimes by design or one's own state of emotions or being aroused, we as a nation of millions have varying degrees of experiences of a working penis, and truthfully, we all have arrived here in one form or another because of the working penis. The penis does not make the man or the woman. It is the person who makes the penis. You could be a bit more creative and less provincial about your ideas of the penis. Please be more open about your gender fluidity, Donald! We understand from the history of ruthless dictators the concern with the size, virility, potency, and masculinity that has driven them to conquer, and you let us know with your generous anecdotes that you are in this particular category. You are concerned with the amount, the polls, the finish line, the winning - and everyone else is a big failure, or a loser. Your continued performance of exaggerating non-existent accomplishments are sad attempts to prop up your own pathetic big dick promotion. And as your constituency we mock you jubilantly as our fool president. Fools happen. We as a nation are assured when you tell us this vital information, that your penis is just fine . We were so worried. We were so concerned! It was such an issue for us as voters! We stopped thinking about the terrorism, war, poverty, suffering, taxes, poisoned water, police brutality, and instead we were thinking about whether your masculinity could stand to attention! We had your penis on our minds and quite frankly on our lips. We do hope that you feel the rush of everyone being aware of your potency. Not since Tricky Dick have we all come together with a penis quandary, but since you have such a strong record of telling the truth we will believe you that your penis is just fine and in working order. Would it be possible for you to describe your working penis in more detail? It would be wonderful since you won't show your taxes, instead you could show your penis or your balls. You could arrange a leak? Just asking. But might we mention that the penis doesn't have to do anything or accomplish anything to be a penis? Like the crowd size at your inauguration - it does seem to be a displaced concern for another size issue that you can't come to terms with. Your concern about the size of the crowd-was bigger than Obama's? We all saw it - you had a smaller much smaller crowd. So we get it. You have a smaller penis and that is your problem. And now that is our problem. Size matters. Thanks, Your Supporters PS. Just wanting to give a suggestion here: After the recording of you saying "grabbing pussy," many of your supporters wanted to see you say the word pussy rather than just hear it. We wonder if your mouth would pucker like a rosebud, or if we would see some tongue. You have such a sweet small mouth that looks like a little twat. Like a strawberry Dunkin' Donut Donald. It is on the minds of many and so it would be lovely if you could include this in one of your press conferences or live feeds. If when you talk we could get a close-up of your mouth exposed as the little asshole it is. Get the camera up close and see the hot pink round mouth hole. We would also like to see you say "go fuck yourself" or "you are fucked." It would be a great media opportunity for high ratings. We are also wondering if it would be possible for a nonstop Twitter marathon. Would it be possible for you to add Facebook Live or YouTube Live so we could be with you in your bed at 3:30 am as you tweet? We wonder, if Melania is beside you, if she could be scantily dressed? Or if you are on the couch looking over the big city, or in the Lincoln office while you are tweeting--upset, in turmoil, furious, exasperated? Just asking, because we want to see your face and get more intimate with you. In fact, if you could keep the live feed in your bed or in your shorts so we could see for ourselves that it is working just fine, folks. We would appreciate the constant contact. We are open to Twitter toilet time. Excerpted from Grabbing Pussy by Karen Finley All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.