ULF, by Christian Hawkey, Factory Hollow Press
Hawkey's latest chapbook of eleven original poems, gorgeously produced by Factory Hollow Press, may remind you at first of the best in science fiction. Say Kubrick's moon station in 2001: A Space Odyssey; Ridley Scott's Alien or Blade Runner; even the underrated Total Recall (also based on a Philip K. Dick short story). That is, these are poems of strikingly bizarre and fertile re-imaginings of reality's “interface” as we know it (or think we know it). But the poems, which are so feverishly visual in their 21st century cyberpunk lyricism, are ultimately too beautifully abstract for any direct cinematic translation. Ulf is a planet that is not a planet, a character that is not a character, and a speaker that is not a speaker. It's also one of the years' most brilliant books: deceivingly slender (30 pages), immensely re-readable.
Adam Fitzgerald reads Chirstian Hawkey's "On his hand with his other hand . . ."
Adam Fitzgerald holds an MFA from Columbia University. His work has appeared in Rain Taxi , Fortnight Journal and elsewhere. He edits Maggy poetry magazine and contributes regularly to TheThe Poetry Blog. He lives in NYC's East Village.
