{"id":583,"date":"2017-04-03T15:20:14","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T15:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/?p=583"},"modified":"2017-04-03T15:20:14","modified_gmt":"2017-04-03T15:20:14","slug":"bulletproof-wolfgang-carstens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/crowreviews\/2017\/04\/bulletproof-wolfgang-carstens\/","title":{"rendered":"“Bulletproof”, by Wolfgang Carstens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cover<\/a>“Bulletproof” is the newest book of poetry by small press veteran Wolfgang Carstens, printed in 2017 by grey borders books<\/a> and available now. Carstens is the frontman of Epic Rites Press, an unrepentent Canadian with front row seats to the latest American shit show. He has published many of the familiar poets we love at Crow: Zarina Zabrisky, Bill Gainer, John Dorsey, and more. 
\n        The first thing that you will notice is the art work on the front and back covers and interior by Epic Rites go-to artist Janne Karlsson who has rendered the poet in a cool ink punk comic style, with scattered bones as he’s walking the tightrope of death. Dig that for a few minutes, then jump in.
\nDespite the whimsical tone, your heart will quickly get heavy. <\/p>\n

Like here:
\n“my father spent \/ the last days \/ of his life \/ asking \/ to see \/ me<\/em><\/p>\n

which \/ is ironic \/ because \/ I spent \/ the first years \/ of mine \/ asking \/ to see \/ him <\/em>
\n“Bulletproof” is both funny and sober, approaching themes of death from many directions: regret, denial, defiance, inevitability. Carstens also focuses on the evolving way that people view death and regret during the lifespan, from taking life for granted to rethinking choices to accepting lost opportunities. The poems are at times tribute, at times lamentation. The poet has to reckon with death around him and the spectre of his own. Nobody is bullet-proof, after all: <\/p>\n

in a drunken stupor,<\/em>
\nclawing my way <\/em>
\nacross the floor<\/em>
\non my hands and knees<\/em>
\nlike a wounded animal,<\/em><\/p>\n

i started thinking<\/em>
\nabout great exit lines-<\/em><\/p>\n

something<\/em>
\nworthy of a tombstone.<\/em><\/p>\n

ultimately,<\/em>
\nall I could come up with <\/em>
\nwas:<\/em><\/p>\n

surely,<\/em>
\none more<\/em>
\nwon’t kill<\/em>
\nme<\/em><\/p>\n

He touches on the inevitability, and the small negotiations with mortality. How “clean” do we want our lives to be, how many things do we forgo to gamble on bought time? Do we rationalize our choices in the name of living on our own terms, and will we regret it? <\/p>\n

Even though there are lines and lines about human loss, the poem that hit that nerve for me was the poem about putting a dog to sleep: “when she slumped in my arms”.  <\/em>Shit. 
\nIt reminds me that we can read poems, read lines, read about awful things- but certain lines, certain images can just stop us in our tracks- and damn if it didn’t make me go hug the hell out of my dog and throw treats at her. You never know what will hit you, or why, and that is part of the experience of poetry. It happens like that- that wave- from some words on a page, something resonates. Certain things like this just stick and that is a powerful thing. You can’t blame people for wanting to do it, right? Of course we argue that people NEED to be doing it. <\/p>\n

Carstens is able to do this with brevity, saying a lot in a small space. This is one of the notable features of the poetry that I have read by him to date: succinct, choppy, but linked and cohesive taken together. 
\nI agree with what Wayne F. Burke had to say about the book: <\/p>\n

\u201cIn BULLETPROOF Wolfgang Carstens uses terse language of an exactitude unsparing inessentials to make a defiantly unsentimental last stand. Like a Daniel Boone of poetry\u2014stoic yet capable of deep emotion\u2014Carstens acknowledges brute existence, but does not give in to it, exults even, in his (and our) continuance, and with mordant wit, skewers vicissitude.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u2014Wayne F. Burke, Dickhead<\/em><\/p>\n

And Magdalena Ball:<\/p>\n

\u201cBULLETPROOF is a short, punchy and powerful collection of poems. Carstens looks death in its blackest eye, with anger, sorrow, and humour, and emerges victorious.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u2014Magdalena Ball, The Compulsive Reader<\/em><\/p>\n

“Short, punchy”. Yes. If you are new to Wolfgang Carstens or Epic Rites Press, check out his site here. <\/a> <\/p>\n

Information about “Bulletproof”:<\/p>\n

BULLETPROOF
\n<\/span><\/h2>\n
23 pages
\nPerfect bound
\nISBN: 978-1-897180-80-8
\n\u200bGrey Borders Books, 2017<\/div>\n
www.greyborders.com<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n

“What We’re Reading”, Full Of Crow Press, edited by Elynn Alexander.<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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He has published many of the familiar \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":585,"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":[230,11,1,238],"tags":[17,240,54,228,241,243,242,239],"class_list":["post-583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chapbooks","category-poetry","category-uncategorized","category-what-were-reading","tag-full-of-crow","tag-bulletproof","tag-crow-reviews","tag-elynn-alexander","tag-epic-rites-press","tag-janne-karlsson","tag-small-press","tag-wolfgang-carstens"],"yoast_head":"\n"Bulletproof", by Wolfgang Carstens - 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\/2017\/04\/bulletproof-wolfgang-carstens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Bulletproof", by Wolfgang Carstens - Crow Reviews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“Bulletproof” is the newest book of poetry by small press veteran Wolfgang Carstens, printed in 2017 by grey borders books and available now. 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