29 May 2009 | Vol. 9, No. 1
Dear Animal Collective—
Your skin's gone Mahler. I'm a toxin in your throbbing,
I'm spindle to your tumble & speak fluent blue heron
& not just with the radio, no. The white-handed gibbon
goading the night resounds in caged stages. Flamingos
flare off of noble shoulders in a marriage of the exotic
with the psychotic. We are your "Animal Kingdom,"
valley without King, a castle built out of headlamps & teeth.
A furnace of wings, valence without audience. Antigenic
determinants amalgamating. This is a lesson on behaviorism.
Do you descent with modification on the principle
of slight variation? Do you ride humans or elation?
About the authors:
Simone Muench is the author of three books, most recently Orange Crush (Sarabande, 2010). Her latest chapbook is Little Visceral Carnival, written with Philip Jenks (Cinematheque Press, 2009). She also writes collaboratively with Bill Allegrezza, serves as an editor for Sharkforum, teaches film studies, and is a huge horror film fan.
Philip Jenks wrote two volumes of poetry, On the Cave You Live In (Flood Editions, 2002) and My First Painting will be "The Accuser" (Zephyr Press, 2005). He's published two chapbooks, The Elms Left Elm Street (Plane Bukt Press, 1993 and Cultural Society, 2008) and the ekphrastic How Many of You are You? (Dusie, 2006). He is completing his third manuscript, Colony Collapse Disorder. He teaches at University of Illinois at Chicago. His poems have appeared in Chicago Review, Traverse, GutCult, h_ngm_n, The Canary, The Gig, Cultural Society, LVNG, Cultural Society, and elsewhere. He collaborates with Simone Muench, publishing in The Canary, Zoland, Moonlit, barrelhouse, Eleven Eleven, and elsewhere. He is a vegan committed to having mercy for all animals and plays percussion with the Howling Hex on Drag City Records.
For further reading:
Browse the contents of 42opus Vol. 9, No. 1, where "Dear Animal Collective—" ran on May 29, 2009. List other work with these same labels: poetry, collaboration.
