The Glass Age

Cole Swensen is simply killing me right now. Not only that fantastic chapbook that Observable put out, but her new book, The Glass Age, from Alice James Books. I read it today very quickly, like spy-novel quickly. Afterwards I had to remind myself of where I was. I was in a place far less interesting than the inside of The Glass Age. Swensen is balancing on a point between abstracted surrealism, aesthetics & autobiography that is unique to me. And all the more impressive because the point is so very precarious & she makes it seem effortless. All the more impressive because I think I could make a case for Pope & Erasmus Darwin as aesthetic antecedents (in addition to Mina Loy, Laura Riding & Breton) & I do not mean that to be derogatory.