{"id":27884,"date":"2015-02-08T01:47:14","date_gmt":"2015-02-08T07:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=27884"},"modified":"2015-02-12T10:11:37","modified_gmt":"2015-02-12T16:11:37","slug":"messy-corners-jean-kanes-make-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/messy-corners-jean-kanes-make-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Messy Corners: Jean Kane’s Make Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

reviewed by Nathaniel Taggart<\/p>\n

\"makeme\"<\/a>At turns dark, playful, and furiously-paced, Jean Kane\u2019s debut poetry collection, Make Me<\/em>, exhibits a whimsical defiance towards authority and the expectations of a contemporary reader of poetry. The cover of the collection is a helpful \u201ctell\u201d\u2014the title of the collection is spelled out by tools and household knick-knacks (with a flair not unlike collage) on a plank wood floor. This focus on domestic objects and households is prevalent throughout the collection, and the poet seems to be telling the reader to pay attention to them. This isn\u2019t to say Kane is telegraphing another tired visitation of Williams\u2019 \u201cno ideas but in things,\u201d rather, things are both things and stand-ins for that which is untenable and difficult to pull-off in poetry.<\/p>\n

The opening poem, \u201cCraft,\u201d begins with the child-like declaration and question, \u201clet\u2019s make a red house. Okay?\u201d Arts and craft time continues with a sense of youthful role-playing through the naming of items such as \u201cpaste,\u201d \u201cmanila paper,\u201d and \u201cpearl buttons.\u201d Readers are eased into the violent upshot of a neighbor being beheaded and another being shot, then bleeding on a stoop, by the speaker\u2019s youthful hope: \u201cYou say maybe the head can be pasted back. Maybe the neck can be \/ fastened. It\u2019s only paper.\u201d<\/p>\n

As in \u201cCraft,\u201d objects in these poems frequently stand in for people, and vice-versa. Kane \u201ctells it slant,\u201d but she usually gives the reader enough to feel confident about their conclusions and assumptions.<\/p>\n

Stylistically, this collection is hard to nail down with poems that alternate between linear narratives, short lyrics, and more cinematic and abstract pieces. A particularly-resonant example of Kane\u2019s cinematic sense occurs in the opening lines of the poem \u201cShadow Academy\u201d:<\/p>\n

When headlights rake my wall
\n          at midnight, part of me
\n slides away from my feet
\n                            and slips under doors, quick
\n                                                      over dark pavement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This series of images efficiently conveys a sense of motion, a sense of secrecy, as well as the speaker\u2019s internal conflict\u2014not all of her is in agreement with her impulse to sneak out of the house to pursue what the poem later reveals to be shadows. Another resonant example of the poet\u2019s cinematic imagery is in \u201cPurse Girl,\u201d which scathingly yet playfully describes bulimia and internalized victimhood:<\/p>\n

Her slouch a kind of asking, the shape of a question,
\n her arms wrapped around her middle, face flack
\n ready to be slapped. Against the empty asphalt, killing time
\n in killing heat, time-killing heat, flip-flop thwack
\n                              like lifeguards.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Devices like slant rhyme, assonance, onomatopoeia, and repetition juxtapose a playful tone with serious subject matter. Yet Kane doesn\u2019t lack reverence for what is at stake. Later in the poem, the stakes are raised, and we witness the subject<\/p>\n

Dragged by the neck strap
\n into the heat, what press and choke—
\n Mouths open as far as they can go                          
\n       without screaming.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The image of self-induced vomiting is transposed upon the image of a woman being forcefully and violently posed into a position of submission. Ultimately, the playful language we witnessed at the beginning of the poem only amplifies the unsettling imagery. Kane has been reading her Angela Carter, and the carnivalesque is an effective, and frequently-used tool.<\/p>\n

This \u201cslant\u201d is a strength of Kane\u2019s: addressing trauma and its causes without calling them out by name. In \u201cPurse Girl,\u201d it\u2019s obvious that some force, or some person, has exerted influence onto the subject, and her sickness is an outcome\u2014not a condition without blame. Kane certainly has chalices, like the sly feminism above, but her poems are not overwrought with them. Her decision to call attention to objects, such as the subject\u2019s purse and neck strap, effectively muffles a reader\u2019s expectation, the sense that they may be diving into something heavy.<\/p>\n

Kane is adept at expressing situations of violence, danger, and conflict by dancing around the subject rather than overwhelming the reader with declarations. She typically centers her poems with regular events, regular objects, and regular roles to great effect. There is plenty at stake in these poems, but Kane successfully escapes the trappings of predictable confessionals. A prime example is the poem \u201cOne Corner of Your Room\u201d :<\/p>\n

\"one<\/a><\/p>\n

Kane personifies the messy corner of a bedroom, and this room seems to be collecting information, keeping score of the occupant\u2019s frailties and clutter. The poet\u2019s tendency to rely on object\/person stand-ins is on full display. Few readers will gaze past the stand-ins for sexual violence, ignored pleas for help, and patriarchal control and arrogance (\u201cI know what you want.\u201d) A mutually-toxic relationship is deftly summoned while the obvious focus is on things like stinky socks and dirty combs.<\/p>\n

One challenge contemporary poets face is the expectation to craft manuscripts of poems that are directly interrelated. Whether by topic, tone, craft, setting, or theme, poetry collections are expected to display some sense of intent\u2014some reason these poems belong together, tucked between the same cover. This expectation also informs the judgments of poetry readers and reviewers. The question \u201cwhat ties these poems together?\u201d seems to be as (or more) prevalent than \u201care the poems in this book any good?\u201d Kane gives us just enough of several threads to feel that there is a \u201clong con\u201d taking place, but ultimately, the emphasis of the book is on strong poems that stand out from each other. This isn\u2019t a concept manuscript like you might see from poets like Cole Swensen or G.C. Waldrep, but Kane\u2019s use of negative space, abstraction, and juxtaposition certainly shows an awareness of such craft.<\/p>\n

The poems in Make Me<\/em> are, by and large, either good or very good poems. Kane employs varying-degrees of transparency and abstraction that give the reader just enough of a sense of what\u2019s at the heart of these poems. I found myself turning the pages quickly, eager to see and feel where I would be taken next (not necessarily to know what happens next). There is something of a fragmented narrative contained in the book, one that concerns the physical and psychological trauma experienced by a young female speaker. But Kane actively resists training her lens on it. Digesting this thread requires a lot of dancing back and forth in the collection. It would be cheating to break it down for you. This could irk some readers, but I found the varied stylings and subjects rewarding.<\/p>\n

The biggest gripe a reader might have with the book that is independent of any preference, and it\u2019s a minor one, is typographical in nature. It\u2019s not clear whether this is done with intent by the poet or publisher, but hyphens, double hyphens, and en dashes seem to take the place for what should probably be em dashes. There are also a handful of missing character spaces after full stops. Kane\u2019s tendency to look at things sideways makes me hesitant to declare these typographical features a mistake, but even if it is with intent, it\u2019s hard to say that anything is gained by such a choice.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Make Me<\/em> is a collection worthy of your time. Kane has an expansive tool kit and a strong sense of poetics and affect. I look forward to reading more of her work.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Photo by Jacob Gorski<\/p><\/div>\n

Jean Kane was born in Brooklyn and grew up in the midwest. She now lives in New York, where she teaches literature and writing at Vassar College. She writes poetry, fiction, and critical essays, some of which have appeared in\u00a0American Short Fiction, the\u00a0Georgia Review,\u00a0Hotel Amerika, and\u00a0Prairie Schooner. <\/em>Make Me was the winner of the 2014 Otis Nebula Poetry Prize.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

reviewed by Nathaniel Taggart At turns dark, playful, and furiously-paced, Jean Kane\u2019s debut poetry collection, Make Me, exhibits a whimsical defiance towards authority and the expectations of a contemporary reader of poetry. The cover of the collection is a helpful \u201ctell\u201d\u2014the title of the collection is spelled out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-15-bytes","category-literary-arts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Jean-Kane_sm.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 01:27:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27884"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27995,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27884\/revisions\/27995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}