PRAISE FOR MATTHEW BAILER
Matthew Bialer’s epic historical, lyrically explosive, narrative poem, ASCENT, about what happens when ‘a flash of light’ hits the town of Van Meter is immediately generative. That is, it generates speed and tenderness and devotion—to a vision, Bialer’s vision—which is superlative and, ultimately, generous. This poem is a gift of the imagination rooted in ‘a happening’—a creature, a creature!—because Bialer has figured out his own way of telling a story through poetry. His cadences coupled with his imagery allow the reader to be swallowed up completely. This poem is a visitation in as much as ‘the creature’ that visited Van Meter in 1903 was a visitation. The difference, though, is that Bialer’s poem is about the beauty that comes with mystery and not the fear that can take hold when something unknown enters the psyche, the field of what is and what is not. Whatever you do, hold your breath, take your time, and become swept up in Bialer’s illumination and brilliance.
—Matthew Lippman
author of AMERICAN CHEW and MONKEY BARS
When everyone else seems to be exploring their own navels or has just figured out that “language” doesn’t “mean” “anything”, Bialer takes our hand and pulls us outward into a much larger, stranger world. Bialer is a successful street photographer and painter and he brings his artist’s eye to these amazing poems, showing us the unspectacular real world behind the supernatural. These are poems that celebrate imagination and folly and the heartbreak that is being human and trying to make sense of a world that is infinitely bigger than even the craziest of us imagines. I read a lot of poems and I never have come across anything quite as beautifully strange as Bialer’s.
—Matthew Rohrer
Author of RISE UP and DESTROYER AND PRESERVER
Matt Bialer’s epic poem, Ascent, is a chilling dive among America’s forgotten monsters, that still dwell in the walled-up caves of the Striped Beast’s subconscious.
—Seb Doubinsky
Author of GOODBYE BABYLON and SONG OF SYNTH
“The most intriguing poetry collection of the year for me was Matt Bialer’s collected narrative poems—we’re not talking “The Cremation of Sam McGee” here. These are sharp, modern narratives, my favorite being one about Charles Fort.”
—Lucius Shepard
Bizarro Pulp Press
an imprint of JournalStone Publishing
Detroit*San Fransisco
www.BIZARROPULPPRESS.com
Ascent
Copyright © 2014 Matthew Bialer
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without the written consent of the publisher, except where permitted by law.
Printed in the USA.
Cover Design: P.A. Douglas
Interior layout by Lori Michelle
www.theauthorsalley.com
FOR MY FRIEND AND GREAT POET AND NOVELIST
SEB DOUBINSKY
In the darkness
He thinks he sees
A flash of light
1 AM
Ulysses G. Griffith
Of Brothers Implement
Implement seed
And vehicle business
Pulls into hometown
Of Van Meter
In his brand new Model A
Two cylinder engine
Ten speed transmission
With full elliptical leaf springs
At the rear
Mechanical brakes
A flash of light
In the darkness
Coming from the roof
Mather and Gregg’s Building
A light
Like a search beam
Where there has never
Been one before
Gets out of the vehicle
Adjusts his sack coat
Waist coat and trousers
Walks over
Where there has never
Been one before
What is that light?
A burglar?
Looks up
At the brick building
Cautiously
Walks closer
Nose twitches
Foul sulfur odor
A flash of light
Something strange
Unexpected
The light
Floats across the street
Relieved
That it’s not a burglar
But what is that?
Floats
To another rooftop
Opposite side of the street
What is that?
And how?
How in the name of God?
The light dims
Gone
To open their eyes
And to turn
Matthew Bialer’s epic historical, lyrically explosive, narrative poem, ASCENT, about what happens when ‘a flash of light’ hits the town of Van Meter is immediately generative. That is, it generates speed and tenderness and devotion—to a vision, Bialer’s vision—which is superlative and, ultimately, generous. This poem is a gift of the imagination rooted in ‘a happening’—a creature, a creature!—because Bialer has figured out his own way of telling a story through poetry. His cadences coupled with his imagery allow the reader to be swallowed up completely. This poem is a visitation in as much as ‘the creature’ that visited Van Meter in 1903 was a visitation. The difference, though, is that Bialer’s poem is about the beauty that comes with mystery and not the fear that can take hold when something unknown enters the psyche, the field of what is and what is not. Whatever you do, hold your breath, take your time, and become swept up in Bialer’s illumination and brilliance.
—Matthew Lippman
author of AMERICAN CHEW and MONKEY BARS
When everyone else seems to be exploring their own navels or has just figured out that “language” doesn’t “mean” “anything”, Bialer takes our hand and pulls us outward into a much larger, stranger world. Bialer is a successful street photographer and painter and he brings his artist’s eye to these amazing poems, showing us the unspectacular real world behind the supernatural. These are poems that celebrate imagination and folly and the heartbreak that is being human and trying to make sense of a world that is infinitely bigger than even the craziest of us imagines. I read a lot of poems and I never have come across anything quite as beautifully strange as Bialer’s.
—Matthew Rohrer
Author of RISE UP and DESTROYER AND PRESERVER
Matt Bialer’s epic poem, Ascent, is a chilling dive among America’s forgotten monsters, that still dwell in the walled-up caves of the Striped Beast’s subconscious.
—Seb Doubinsky
Author of GOODBYE BABYLON and SONG OF SYNTH
“The most intriguing poetry collection of the year for me was Matt Bialer’s collected narrative poems—we’re not talking “The Cremation of Sam McGee” here. These are sharp, modern narratives, my favorite being one about Charles Fort.”
—Lucius Shepard
Bizarro Pulp Press
an imprint of JournalStone Publishing
Detroit*San Fransisco
www.BIZARROPULPPRESS.com
Ascent
Copyright © 2014 Matthew Bialer
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without the written consent of the publisher, except where permitted by law.
Printed in the USA.
Cover Design: P.A. Douglas
Interior layout by Lori Michelle
www.theauthorsalley.com
FOR MY FRIEND AND GREAT POET AND NOVELIST
SEB DOUBINSKY
In the darkness
He thinks he sees
A flash of light
1 AM
Ulysses G. Griffith
Of Brothers Implement
Implement seed
And vehicle business
Pulls into hometown
Of Van Meter
In his brand new Model A
Two cylinder engine
Ten speed transmission
With full elliptical leaf springs
At the rear
Mechanical brakes
A flash of light
In the darkness
Coming from the roof
Mather and Gregg’s Building
A light
Like a search beam
Where there has never
Been one before
Gets out of the vehicle
Adjusts his sack coat
Waist coat and trousers
Walks over
Where there has never
Been one before
What is that light?
A burglar?
Looks up
At the brick building
Cautiously
Walks closer
Nose twitches
Foul sulfur odor
A flash of light
Something strange
Unexpected
The light
Floats across the street
Relieved
That it’s not a burglar
But what is that?
Floats
To another rooftop
Opposite side of the street
What is that?
And how?
How in the name of God?
The light dims
Gone
To open their eyes
And to turn
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