POEM WITHOUT SUFFERING, JOSEF KAPLAN

POEM WITHOUT SUFFERING IS A BOOK-LENGTH ELEGY, COMPOSED IN SLOW MOTION ALONGSIDE THE PATH OF A .224-INCH, JACKETED HOLLOW POINT BULLET — ONE THAT’S BEEN FIRED INTO THE BODIES OF AT LEAST TWO CHILDREN, MAYBE MORE. COMBINING ALICE NOTLEY WITH A BALLISTICS REPORT, TOBIAS WOLFF WITH ANTONIN ARTAUD, KAPLAN’S RELENTLESS EXAMINATION OF GRIEF EVOKES A POETICS THROUGH WHICH THE MECHANICS OF ATROCITY ARE INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM THOSE OF THE LITERARY IMAGINATION. AT TURNS TENDER, COMIC, AND SOBERINGLY EXTIRPATIVE, POEM WITHOUT SUFFERING PRESENTS A THIN COLUMN OF WRITING FROM WITHIN A WORLD OF EVER-EXPANDING CRUELTY.