"Yau tweaks and twists language to express a painful comic vision in which sensual vividness combines with fierce despair."—Booklist
John Yau engages art criticism, social theory, and syntactical dexterity to confront the problems of aging, meaning, and identity. Insisting that "True poets and artists know where language ends, which is why they go there," Yau presses against the limits of language, creating poems that are at once cryptic, playful, and insightful. Included in its entirety is his groundbreaking serial poem, "Genghis Chan: Private Eye," and a new series invoking the monochromatic painter Yves Klein.
From "Exhibits":
Can you name which country uses selective amnesia to determine its foreign policy?
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Money has become a vast dirty sea rolling over the land.
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Money has become a UFO because it is the only thing that lacks controversy.
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Money rhymes with algae.
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Do you swear to tell the whole truth filled with nothing but reasonable lies?
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Signing up for Free Membership works best in a failing economy.
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In case of emergency, please vacuum the premises.
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I used to be thorough, now I am just comprehensive . . .
John Yau is the author of fifty books of poetry, fiction, and criticism. He is the arts editor of The Brooklyn Rail and teaches art criticism at Mason Gross School of the Arts and Rutgers University. He lives in the Garment District neighborhood in New York City.