September 15, 2005

Cole Swenson, Goest (Alice James, 2004). 63 pages, $13.95.

Anne Waldman already tells us on the back cover that Goest and ghost sound alike, so no need to repeat. The Saint James form of the verb reflects the subject matter as Swenson deep-dives into the archives to find obscure historical references to advance the over-arching idea of civil progress and homogenization, most heavily reflected in the history of artificial light and its inherent, far-reaching developments.

For example (pulled at random), "John Muller's iron dragonfly, who flew, and his artficial eagle, who went out / ahead to meet the Emperor Maximilian, June 7, 1470" offers a Poundian insight without the Poundesque heavy-handedness into the creation of automata, ie. perpetual motion machines (pre-robots?) (39).

The middle section, "A History of the Incandescent" (19-52), chronicles the incredibily small but important steps that led to lighting the streets of London among other lighting advances. Swenson writes that "Any liquid can be weighed by its resistance; / it's like falling into history, which misses you" (33) ["The Invenntion of the Hydrometer"], calling our attention to the vast amount of things we simply take for granted: streetlights, Edison, etc.

She also calls into question the value of writing: "We aim a piece of graphite / at vellum and it stains. Beyond every window is a line where the world starts" (51).

Outside the graphite stained sheet of paper, yes.