Blackbirds — Greg Santos (Goggles Eyewear Pamphlet Series 2018/Eyewear Publishing)

Today's book of poetry:
Blackbirds.  Greg Santos.  Goggles Eyewear Pamphlet Series 2018.  Eyewear Publishing Ltd.  Marylebone, London, UK.  2018.

Blackbirds offers up some right in your face racist scenarios that make you feel embarrassed to be a human being at all.  All the unnecessary and hurtful things racist idiots feel entitled to are here.  It is painful to read and almost too painful too consider.

Along side that hot wet moral mess Greg Santos lays in some of the tenderest little love bomb bon mots.  Sweet tidings about his love for his wife and his love for his child.

Today's book of poetry is weighing this emotional yin and yang, it might be tactical.

I Have A Problem

All I care about is everything.

I like to lie down and look up at the stars

even when there are none.

I am almost nothing but thoughts and water.

I find mirrors unbearably off-putting.

My children find them droll.

Do you feel that too?

My left hand feels like a cataclysmic storm.

I will never tire of looking at my wife.

Her smile is like a constant sonar beep

in the depths of my chest.

I hear rain even when it's sunny out.

Have you ever squinted at the ocean

so the sky and the water blend until

you don't know where one ends and the other begins?

I'm doing that right now with you.

💫💫💫

"I will never tire of looking at my wife."  Today's book of poetry gave that line a serious standing ovation, in the context of the poem it is tenderness personified.

Back in May of 2015, Today's book of poetry had the pleasure of visiting Greg Santos world when we took at look at his Rabbit Punch! (Punchy Poetry/DC Books, 2014), and you can look at that here:

http://michaeldennispoet.blogspot.com/2015/05/rabbit-punch-greg-santos-punchy.html

Some things change and some things don't.  Greg Santos is still knocking them out of the park with his steady diet of cooking up a storm.  Today's book of poetry has no qualms about mixing metaphors in order to exclaim our pleasure.  Blackbirds is another impressive outing from Santos.

Hangry

This raspberry/peach yogurt tastes bitter.

Why does everything taste bitter today?

The headlines say science can explain why people are jerks.

Here are 20 great ways to sabotage yourself.

I misread 'so many people killing it this month'.

as 'so many people killing this month'.

I swore while making burnt grilled-cheese sandwiches for lunch.

I don't know what to make of the news anymore.

How do we respond to this horrible day?

I watched a video of how instant ramen noodles are made.

💫💫💫

Our morning read was held under sunny, sunny skies but we were indoors because even though it is April Fools' Day, April 1st, the temperature when I went out to warm up the car this morning was -14C (with the windchill) and it felt crisp.

After everyone unbundled, the removal of layers of scarves, hats and mittens, and the usual morning clamour, everyone sat down and started off the day as we always do, with Today's book of poetry.  Blackbirds was a delight to read because everyone got crackerjacks.  You could see the poems sinking in around the room, resonating shock and awe.  Santos can lull you into a false sense of security before slamming you back to reality and he does it all with the same easy pace.

It is harder than you might think to reach this level of cool, clear and clean poems.  Greg Santos does it almost every single time out of the gate.

Cracking Up

Waiting by a crosswalk, we watched a motorcyclist zoom by.

The ground shook like an elephant caught in a draft,

prompting me to contemplate the fragility of the cosmos.

We were holding hands, happy to feel the breeze on our faces.

Being somewhat of a wind connoisseur, I noticed a hint of ginger

with a delicate bouquet of foreboding. But I kept it to myself.

A bony woman with a droopy face came up to us and asked,

'Excuse me, were you two laughing at me?'

M and I looked at each other, a bit shocked by the question.

'No,' I said. The droopy-faced woman blinked and nodded.

'Oh,' she said, 'sorry about that. I have low self-esteem. Have a nice day.'

And then she droopily shuffled off.

'I didn't think we were laughing at her, were we?' I asked.

'Oh no,' M said, 'I wasn't laughing at all.'

At a traffic light, we stared absentmindedly at the colored circles.

They looked like brightly lit cough drops. 'You know,' I said guiltily,

'I might have been giggling a little under my breath.'

'Yeah,' M said, 'me too.'

A pick-up truck nearby ran the red light and almost hit a man

crossing on the other side of the street.

M and I couldn't hold it back any longer and we burst out laughing.

Our sides hurt so much, everything began shaking uncontrollably.

Soon dandelions in sidewalk cracks were bent over in hysterics,

skyscrapers were leaning on each others' shoulders and howling,

planets could be heard slapping their knees, even the Milky Way

was spewing dairy out its nose...And this is the way the world ends.

Not with a bang. Certainly not with a whimper. But with a chortle.

💫💫💫

Today's book of poetry wants to thank Greg Santos for stopping by.  As long as he continues with this level of poetry, Today's book of poetry has his back.  Blackbirds comes in at a light forty-two pages but by the time you've finished Blackbirds you'll know that Santos has crazy weight.

Greg Santos

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Greg Santos is the author of Rabbit Punch! (DC Books, 2014) and The Emperor’s Sofa (DC Books, 2010). He is of Cambodian, Portuguese, and Spanish descent. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. His writing has appeared in The Walrus, Geist, Ricepaper, Queen’s Quarterly, World Literature Today, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, and The Best American Poetry Blog. He regularly works with at-risk communities and teaches at the Thomas More Institute. He is the poetry editor of carte blanche and lives in Montreal, Canada, with his wife and two children.

BLURB
‘Santos is a poet of exceptional ingenuity, insight and range. The poems in Blackbirds travel through shifting geographies of emotion, holding a mirror to life’s complexity. They remind us to laugh, or at least chortle, in the face of futility.’

     – Cora Siré

‘Underlying the simplicity of Santos’s poems is a hard-earned wisdom and the courage of living with loss. Wherever they take you – Angkor or Lisboa, Paris or his backyard, his poems with their fragmented glimpses of connections will “feel real.” ’ 

    – Phoebe Wang

Greg Santos

Reading at The Earshot Reading Series

Video: Greg Santos

eyewearpublishing.com

DISCLAIMERS

Poems cited here are assumed to be under copyright by the poet and/or publisher.  They are shown here for publicity and review purposes.  For any other kind of re-use of these poems, please contact the listed publishers for permission.

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Rabbit Punch - Greg Santos (Punchy Poetry/DC Books)

Today's book of poetry:
Rabbit Punch.  Greg Santos.  Punchy Poetry/DC Books.  Montreal, Quebec.  2014.

Greg Santos is one skilled cat.  You might think he is a sprinter at first, these poems race by so fast with their jet-speed alacrity.

You could also make a good argument that Santos could be a stand-up comic of a particular type of brilliance -- throwing out poems so quick, so deft, so off-the-cuff, that they could easily be mistaken for one-liners but in fact, this a feast of punch lines.

Punches coming at you so fast and furious you'll be punch-drunk in no time.

The Prodigal Son

That feeling the executioner has
when he hangs up his mask at the end of the work day,
I have that right now.
Like a rabbit punch out of the blue.
I feel on kilter and that worries me.
But I'm not complaining.
I'm just singing a requiem for all decent centaurs
    everywhere.
The digital photo frames of the present
do not compare to the daguerreotypes of the past.
Take a bayonet to the face
and you regret it for the rest of your life.
It's best not to dwell.
I say it's better to pack one's bindle
and hobo it down to the freight yard.
That way you won't feel like a permanent intern
and that elephant you've had on your back all your life
will be off scratching its back on a tree in some open field.
Skulking back into the village
long after they've forgotten they tarred and feathered you,
the prodigal son will be welcomed home with loving arms.

...

A rabbit punch is a dangerous punch to the back of the head or neck that can lead to serious injury and it is heavily penalized.  The term comes from the short, sharp punch gamekeepers use to kill rabbits - quick short shot to the back of the head - so as to not spoil the pelt.

Greg Santos is unlikely to kill anyone with Rabbit Punch but the title is apt.  These poems hit a bit like a well timed punch.  You don't necessarily go down - but the boxer/poet certainly wins your undivided attention.

Tree Frogs

In the summer we caught
frogs while they burped
at the edge of ponds,
their spawn bubbling,
shimmering in the sun.

We were fast,
grabbed them
with bare hands,
squeezed until
they stopped squirming.

Tied string around their bodies
hung them on pine trees,
left them dangling
all through summer and fall,
waiting for winter to come.

In December
wearing boots, heavy jackets,
we trudged through
clean snow
till we reached the pines

where we proudly
showed off our
homemade christmas ornaments:
tiny skeletons,
bones tinkling in the wind.

...

Today's book of poetry could not give a higher/better recommendation for a book of poetry. Seriously.  Almost every page is gold of the purest kind.

I hope Santos had half as much fun writing Rabbit Punch as the reader gets mining this delicious ore.

Everything Santos writes is true-sounding, his left jab winnows out any chaff, his crisp right cross - always on the button.

It occurs to us here at Today's book of poetry that "This Poem Wants You to Trust it" might in fact be a manifesto.  It certainly is a treat.

This Poem Wants You to Trust it

Not right away but gradually over time.
It wants to hold hands for a while before getting serious.
It is very patient and understanding that way.
It enjoys making mixtapes to help you get through the
   work day.
It likes Renaissance fairs, prancing, and enchantment.
It wants to be a guest speaker in your high school gym.
It will come dressed completely covered in glitter.
It will shake itself like a dog and sprinkle its wonderment
   all over the audience.
It will charm the pants off the crowd.
Some of them will even consider becoming poems
   themselves when they grow up.
That's just how this poem rolls.
It encourages you to follow the rainbow.
It is the leprechaun of poems.
No, actually it is more like the unicorn of poems.
This poem can only be read
By the pure of heart,
by you.

...

Truer words never hissed out from between a boxer's bruised lips.

You, the reader, better be in good shape, Greg Santos' Rabbit Punch is not fooling around.

Stunningly good poetry.

Greg Santos

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Greg Santos is the author of The Emperor's Sofa (DC Books). He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School in Manhattan. Greg is a poetry editor for carte blanche and teaches the art of verse to at-risk youth. He lives in Montreal with his wife and two children.

BLURBS

“Rabbit Punch! breaks the neck of poetry and stuffs it in a bag and trudges with it through the forest and spills it out onto the kitchen table, where Tara Reid and John Ashbery dig in. This is a funny, creepy, reverent, irreverent and insolent collection. And likely the only one in the history of literature to mention Tara Reid on the back cover.”

 – Stuart Ross

"Greg Santos' poems are so quick on their feet, and fly by so fast, and are so pleasurable, I almost forgot that they are poems. Of course they are, and are as literary as they are entertaining:  New York School by way of Paul Violi. But even tradition deserves a jab or two. Santos packs a whole lot of enchantment in each of his rabbit punches. Getting knocked out has never been such fun.

 -David Trinidad

Greg Santos

Reads poems for harold and kumar 2 USTREAM

August 25, 2011 - hosted by Johnny Vulpine

Video by Greg Santos

dcbooks.ca

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Poems cited here are assumed to be under copyright by the poet and/or publisher.  They are shown here for publicity and review purposes.  For any other kind of re-use of these poems, please contact the listed publishers for permission.