Publisher's Synopsis
Poetry. Reading Michael Turner's extraordinary 9X11 I was reminded of Christa Wolf's Accident, how global crisis intensifies the daily--except that in Turner's / our current state disruption has become the new norm. Disruption both terrifies and excites the poet--the stacked monotony of skyscrapers is broken both by the horror of people leaping out of buildings and by Mallarme's thrilling abandonment of vertical structure in 'Un coup de des jamais n'abolira le hasard' (1897). All the reflections and contemplative rhymes add up to a holographic text that begs repeated reading. '9x11' is a date, a disaster, and the measurements of the poet's room. For Turner architecture is a form of poetic divination, and poetry is a form of architecture. Living in a city, community is inevitable--coffee house / apartment building / poetry peers--and despite his caution, Turner's tense heart proves very big.--Dodie Bellamy
