The 44th of July

The third collection from Bolina (Phantom Camera) is rich with the voices of those who have been made to feel "other" in America. A twist on the classic Greek chorus comes together to challenge hegemony: "I arrived in via wormhole,/ via subspace, via mother ship descending, in a snap-button/ sarong, in a denim sari, in my ten-gallon turban, I look/ so authentic you'd almost believe it's the 44th of July." Each of these free verse poems is its own spinning zoetrope or miniature stage play, with nods to speculative fiction, international conflict, and wars both cultural and militarized: "I'll pass dapper as a Dixie lawyer. If anybody asks, Where/ is he from? Bunny, tell her Baton Rouge, or say South Carolina./ If anybody asks, Where's he really from? meaning the Rangoon/ Nebula, meaning the seventh moon of Guadalajara/ or the ice planet Karachi, tell him I come in peace or I pledge/ allegiance." Sonically powerful and careful in their word choice, these poems create a musical texture throughout. This strength can, in moments, bog down the book, with soundplay overtaking meaning and agile political takedowns. Still, Bolina's poems are acute, playful works that precisely capture the surreality of our current political moment. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Author most recently of Phantom Camera, winner of the Green Rose Prize in Poetry, Bolina writes socially aware poems mixing aesthetics with politics in emotionally charged language. It is poetry of bridging, connecting, and seeing to retain clarity and evoke awakening. The poet often blends surrealism with dark humor and comic scenery: "You do the murder quick like it's a bright idea/ like the cosmos is split into a faction of gods/ and a faction of meet." Today's ethical chaos demands the salvific scope of poetry as a means of vividly grasping life, and Bolina delivers with a poetry of engagement that highlights its role in enunciating dynamic truths: "You can cleanse the ethnics/ expel every interloper, and cordon the border, but you can't/ scrub the city." Thus, the poet aims not so much to influence public opinion as to stitch back together shards of a torn dialog and bring it depth. The imagery comes bursting forth studded with sharp details about a wide range of subjects, from alienation to poverty to social protest. VERDICT These attentive and subtle poems engage language expressively to address pressing realities, brilliantly demonstrating that poetry is action. Recommended for all poetry readers.-Sadiq Alkoriji, Broward Cty. Lib. Syst., FL © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.