Description
Book Synopsis“There is no other poet who writes like Torres. Elaborate, chanting, pointed, and granite in their ‘octaves of shine,’ his poems have it all. They are a real and gritty pleasure to read, a necessary tonic to these toxic times.” —John Yau
What does a book want to be in anyone’s hands but an infinite word object? XoeteoX is a dare into perception, traversing territories of language, sound, and the visual page. At the intersection of identity, performance, and typography, these poems compel reader and word into being, presenting a pact towards understanding and the mutual beyond.
between you and me
a skin of cognition — a container holding us together — connecting us
your skin is incredibly porous
your existence — unfolding within it
a journey leading back to its creation —
a right now — in the making that forms the beginning
of what you end — right now
Edwin Torres is the author of eight books of poetry, including Ameriscopia (University of Arizona Press), Yes Thing No Thing (Roof Books), The PoPedology Of An Ambient Language (Atelos Books), and editor of the forthcoming anthology, Out Of Each Other: An Anthology Of The Body In Language (Counterpath Press). He has performed worldwide and taught his process-oriented workshop, “Brainlingo: Writing The Voice Of The Body,” across the nation.
Trade Review"Poet and performance artist Torres (Ameriscopia) cannibalizes the book form through a hybrid assemblage of various experimental gestures juxtaposed with plainspoken lines . . . Torres demands attention to the invention of a new kind of language that contains the possibilities of opening up a sparkling new world."
Publishers Weekly
"Torres manifests himself, and his readers, by his act of writing. He calls forth what is unknown by naming it thusly, and dissolves any easy logics by troubling them in momentous, springboard fashion. With XoeteoX, Torres invites us to enter into this heady performance with him to reach past and on to the next truths and our future selves."
—Arkansas International
"It is a book that . . . manages to bring a mature, managed poetics forward to the open reader through moments of graceful experimentation and a surge of intense respect for the learned identity."
—Yellow Rabbit
Table of ContentsContents
A OTRO
THE COLLAGIST AT THE EDGE
TALISMAN
slippage i: TO THE TETRIC HEPTATHLETE
slippage ii: TO THE RENDERED EXCISION
slippage iii: TO READ WITH THE SILENT RUNNERS
THE STORY STORY
ANATOMICALLY ERECT
TONE
slippage iv: OCEAN OBELISK
BLUE WHEEL RONDO
TO THE THINGS WE NAME
CHAOS IS A FLOWER
TOPOGRAPHY FOR THE UNINITIATED
AURORA’S AURA
INVERSION
SOLSTICE
OBLIQUE OFFERING
SOME KINDA RIP IN WHAT I SEE
THE ANIMAL GAME
I WAS SO TIRED THIS MORNING AND NOW HERE I AM AWAKE KABONKADONK PUTTANESCA
ARSE POETICA
slippage v: TO NAME THE DRAWING YOU MUST READ IT FIRST THE HAPPY SKEPTIC
MECCA CONFUSA: THE T-SHIRT POEM
SEGREGATION HAIKU
THE THING ABOUT LATINX
slippage vi: TOTEM
