{"id":125,"date":"2009-07-30T19:14:54","date_gmt":"2009-07-31T00:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/?p=125"},"modified":"2009-07-30T19:14:54","modified_gmt":"2009-07-31T00:14:54","slug":"antisocial-david-blaine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/","title":{"rendered":""Antisocial", David Blaine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Connie Stadler (Calliope Nerve)<\/a> reviews David Blaine’s new chapbook from Outsider Writers Collective: “Antisocial”. <\/em><\/p>\n

David\u2019s Blaine \u201cAntisocial\u201d is a hidden treasure. You expect poetic diatribes and rants, you get wonderful wit laden bites that must be read a second or third time or the rich profundity\/in-your-face irony will surely be missed. Though seeming toss-offs ,these are multi-faceted, rich gems.
\nThere are many targets here, but not specific \u201ccauses\u201d, Blaine rather wishes to probe the fertile underbelly of the genesis of our sequential stupidities:<\/p>\n

In Guns \u2018n Butter, our impassioned, unthinking love affair with environmental destroying \u201cwheels\u201d is turned into a sardonic rendezvous:<\/p>\n

I\u2019d been having an affair\/with a hydrocarbon medusa.\/A crude relationship\/ based on heavy metal\/ m.r.e.\u2019s and gunshot residue.<\/p>\n

This continues to progress until we reach an acme, B.S. Mentality, where all the poet\u2019s talent and message comes through, in a totally captivating way ~ a casual discussion of Christ, and his \u2018way with words\u2019:<\/p>\n

Jesus wasn\u2019t a woodsmith
\nbut a wordsmith<\/p>\n

and he\u2019s always been misunderstood,
\nI mean Golgotha\u2014
\nthat was a tough crowd.<\/p>\n

I am the way, the truth and the life.<\/p>\n

Metaphor.<\/p>\n

What Christ needed
\nwas more concrete imagery<\/p>\n

like the son of man\u2026now that must have pissed his mother off.<\/p>\n

Joseph probably grinned his best \u201cthat\u2019s my boy\u201d grin
\nthen caught an elbow in the ribs and that \u201cyou\u2019re not getting any tonight\u201d look
\nFrom Mary.<\/p>\n

(Does the \u201cyou\u2019re not getting any tonight\u201d look work when you haven\u2019t gotten any for\u2014
\never?)<\/p>\n

Acerbity and challenge are not avoided; indeed in not a few poems the confrontation is brutal. This is in-your-face in The Truth (Really):<\/p>\n

For my poem to work
\nI needed to speak to you
\nlike a two faced friend
\nsponging a drink<\/p>\n

like that homeless guy
\nwho needs a dime for \u201cbus fare\u201d<\/p>\n

or like a politician
\nscamming your vote.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m certain an educated
\nupstanding person,
\nsuch as yourself,
\ngets that<\/p>\n

don\u2019t you?<\/p>\n

Or in History\u2019s Child:<\/p>\n

Fact is brutal\/Fact is a bare two hundred watt bulb\/ Fact is a glaring in your face \u2026\/
\nTruth is fact with the corners rounded off\/and the edges softened … \/ Fuck fact\/
\ntell me your story.<\/p>\n

But on the occasions when his rage becomes specific, it is blistering as in the innocuously titled, Won\u2019t you come to my house:<\/p>\n

In Sudan the children are starving\/while we’re turning food into oil. I\u2019m getting eight miles per baby this week.\/What time can I pick you up?<\/p>\n

One of the true delights of this rich volume is the unexpected. David\u2019s originality, insights, raw talent and puckish wit combine to making this book a must-read.<\/p>\n

Towards the end of the book he challenges Dylan Thomas\u2019 \u2018take\u2019 in Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night:<\/p>\n

Why rage?\/Which essential tasks remain?\/Fetters chains \u2026\/refuse this fight\/
\nretreat into light\/embrace December\u2019s whitened night.<\/p>\n

You read this and murmur. \u201cDavid, you are a force of nature\u201d, and that would be \u2026 quite \u2026 accurate.<\/p>\n

Constance Stadler is the Review Editor for Calliope Nerve and the author of two chaps, Tinted Steam (Shadow Archer Press), Sublunary Curse (Erbacce) and a full-length eBook Paper Cuts (Calliope Nerve Media).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Connie Stadler (Calliope Nerve) reviews David Blaine’s new chapbook from Outsider Writers Collective: “Antisocial”. David\u2019s Blaine \u201cAntisocial\u201d is a hidden treasure. You expect poetic diatribes and rants, you get wonderful wit laden bites that must be read a second or third time or the rich profundity\/in-your-face irony will surely be \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11],"tags":[31,44,53,55],"class_list":["post-125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-reviews","category-poetry","tag-antisocial","tag-calliope-nerve","tag-constance-stadler","tag-david-blaine"],"yoast_head":"\n"Antisocial", David Blaine - Crow Reviews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Antisocial", David Blaine - Crow Reviews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Connie Stadler (Calliope Nerve) reviews David Blaine’s new chapbook from Outsider Writers Collective: “Antisocial”. David\u2019s Blaine \u201cAntisocial\u201d is a hidden treasure. You expect poetic diatribes and rants, you get wonderful wit laden bites that must be read a second or third time or the rich profundity\/in-your-face irony will surely be \u2026 Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Crow Reviews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-07-31T00:14:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elynn Alexander\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elynn Alexander\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elynn Alexander\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/#\/schema\/person\/0c3e05436844453578a7b05a141b254e\"},\"headline\":\""Antisocial", David Blaine\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-07-31T00:14:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/\"},\"wordCount\":554,\"keywords\":[\"Antisocial\",\"Calliope Nerve\",\"Constance Stadler\",\"David Blaine\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Guest Reviews\",\"Poetry\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/\",\"name\":\""Antisocial", David Blaine - Crow Reviews\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-07-31T00:14:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/#\/schema\/person\/0c3e05436844453578a7b05a141b254e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\""Antisocial", David Blaine\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/\",\"name\":\"Crow Reviews\",\"description\":\"Discussion, Essays, And Analysis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/#\/schema\/person\/0c3e05436844453578a7b05a141b254e\",\"name\":\"Elynn Alexander\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4fe694c5e4b8b16c593cdd73c22d8b69b980e61ed850521d1d3241a771814562?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4fe694c5e4b8b16c593cdd73c22d8b69b980e61ed850521d1d3241a771814562?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elynn Alexander\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.elynnalexander.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":""Antisocial", David Blaine - Crow Reviews","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":""Antisocial", David Blaine - Crow Reviews","og_description":"Connie Stadler (Calliope Nerve) reviews David Blaine’s new chapbook from Outsider Writers Collective: “Antisocial”. David\u2019s Blaine \u201cAntisocial\u201d is a hidden treasure. You expect poetic diatribes and rants, you get wonderful wit laden bites that must be read a second or third time or the rich profundity\/in-your-face irony will surely be \u2026 Continue reading →","og_url":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/","og_site_name":"Crow Reviews","article_published_time":"2009-07-31T00:14:54+00:00","author":"Elynn Alexander","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elynn Alexander","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/"},"author":{"name":"Elynn Alexander","@id":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/#\/schema\/person\/0c3e05436844453578a7b05a141b254e"},"headline":""Antisocial", David Blaine","datePublished":"2009-07-31T00:14:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/"},"wordCount":554,"keywords":["Antisocial","Calliope Nerve","Constance Stadler","David Blaine"],"articleSection":["Guest Reviews","Poetry"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/","url":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/","name":""Antisocial", David Blaine - Crow Reviews","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-07-31T00:14:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/#\/schema\/person\/0c3e05436844453578a7b05a141b254e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2009\/07\/antisocial-david-blaine\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":""Antisocial", David Blaine"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/","name":"Crow Reviews","description":"Discussion, Essays, And Analysis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/#\/schema\/person\/0c3e05436844453578a7b05a141b254e","name":"Elynn Alexander","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4fe694c5e4b8b16c593cdd73c22d8b69b980e61ed850521d1d3241a771814562?s=96&d=retro&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4fe694c5e4b8b16c593cdd73c22d8b69b980e61ed850521d1d3241a771814562?s=96&d=retro&r=g","caption":"Elynn Alexander"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.elynnalexander.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}