Heller Levinson continues his Hinge Theory-fueled explorations of life and language in two new collections of poetry from Black Widow Press. He includes four epigraphs at the beginning of Shift Gristle which give an indication of the concerns he will engage with, and the modes of engagement in the book. They include quotes from Walter Benjamin, John Gardner, Walt Whitman, and this one from Matthew Prichard, writing in regard to the paintings of his friend Henri Matisse: “There are certain truths which transcend the power of the intellect to grasp, which can only be conveyed by evocation.”
The Orphic, epistemologically inquisitive poems in Query Caboodle put me in mind of Zen koans and Pablo Neruda's The Book of Questions. The questions in the book are not questions to be answered so much as they are questions to be dwelt on and lived with in order to deepen one's awareness of how language operates.
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