The Goner School
by Jessica Laser
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Pub Date Sep 27 2024 | Archive Date Sep 27 2024
University of Iowa Press | University Of Iowa Press
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Description
A Note From the Publisher
“William James”
As I enter the station, my first heart stops.
I begin, chopping the foot of a tree.
Its branches are unmoved by my act.
Its leaves murmur. Peacefully as ever,
I do violence to the foot of a man.
I hear the conductor calling “all aboard!”
If I stumble as I run
If a cinder enters my eye
I enter the station.
The conductor calling “all aboard!”
Stops my first heart stopping
My second heart beating
The foot of a tree, the foot
Of a man. I hear violence calling
Its branches unmoved.
They are moved, I insist.
Advance Praise
“Jessica Laser’s The Goner School is a beautifully uncanny book about, ultimately, knowledge: the rituals by which we exchange it and the alchemy by which it passes into wisdom. These poems will sharpen your intellect, tutor your senses, and enlarge your vision of your own life.”—Maggie Millner, author, Couplets: A Love Story
“Jessica Laser is one of the most compelling spiritual poets writing today. To read these poems is to share a crisis with real stakes—they have both vulnerability and presence, and they are worthy of Frost’s analogy about the best verse: ‘Like a piece of ice on a hot stove, the poem must ride on its own melting.’”—Katie Peterson, author, Fog and Smoke
“In The Goner School, Jessica Laser is both poet and playwright discovering the emotional inheritances that come with circular movement. ‘You could dim us,’ she points out in the title poem; but she never lets that happen. Instead, she turns on the strobe light and invites her readers to witness the process of processing what it means to get close. Poem after poem, she builds the world then blocks the stage. We become contributors to a community. Season ticket holders. Scene partners. Cohorts. Friends. In ‘The Breakfast-Eaters’ she asks, ‘How does life begin again?’ and then—Laser starts the scene over. Tells a newer truth; a clearer truth; trusting her rhythms to formulate in real time.The Goner School is a wild ride full of fun, ferment, and fortitude; a place where even the mundane is miraculous.”—Kendra Allen, author, Fruit Punch
Available Editions
EDITION | Other Format |
ISBN | 9781609389918 |
PRICE | $20.00 (USD) |
PAGES | 96 |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
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Thank you to NetGalley, University of Iowa Press, Kuhl House Poets, and Jessica Laser for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Goner School is a collection of poems that don't really tie together in their individual stories, but do in the fact that each features a different experience in the world. I believe the main message here is that everyone has their own struggles and experiences, but we share this earth and this planet with everyone else. This collection brings with it an understanding of collective humanity.
While I really enjoy Laser's craft and find some of the language truly exquisite, the content itself wasn't super entertaining for me. It took me a little while to get through, even though the collection is rather short, because of the different perspectives going on. I needed a moment to think about what I just read, and even then still had some trouble with my own understanding of a few of the poems. I believe I misled myself with the excerpt thinking it would be a more novel-in-verse style, rather than a collection of different poems sharing a similar theme.
All-in-all I liked where the different poems took me. This definitely isn't a work for just anyone. Those who seek a more heightened poetic experience and enjoy looking for similar themes in a set of poems that, on the surface seem flat and disjointed, but underneath hold so much exponential meaning and connected value, then this one is for you!
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