feeld refuses to be anything but its own invention of itself. As a trans writer, writing a trans experience, Charles contends, through this masterful, strange, and intelligent collection, that any language that is not transformative, not revolutionary, not calling attention to itself as an act of defiance and beauty, falls short. The reading never got easy, the spelling never grew familiar, the work always effortful of course, that is Charles’s point. However, I try to be game when a book invites me to confront my own limitations and privileges as a reader and a person, so I pushed through my discomfort. I turned to the first poem and said to myself, “Wait, is the whole book going to be like this?” “Like this” being a Chaucerian spelling of English (you’d think the title would have given me a clue, but reader, I’m often oblivious). When I picked up Jos Charles’s feeld, I knew nothing about it, aside from the praise for it wafting through the poetry internet. Reviewed: feeld by Jos Charles (Milkweed Editions, 2018). The Meter Reader: Jos Charles's feeld "reveals familiarity is a con"Īmie Whittemore, with editorial support from James Ascher Aracelis Girmay, Cathy Park Hong & Natalie Scenters-Zapico.Marina Benjamin, Jill Kolongowski & Vedran Husic.
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