T. Anders Carson: A Different Shred of Skin (2002)

Jack Ross, ed.: Spin 42 (March 2002)

T. Anders Carson, A Different Shred of Skin. Detroit, Michigan: Undead Poets Press, 2000. 120pp. RRP $US14.95. ISBN 1-930769-00-8.

T. Anders Carson: A Different Shred of Skin (2000)

T. Anders Carson is a very different case. First of all, turn to page 16 of this journal and read his poem “The dark.” That’s very much the landscape of these poems: drunks, junkies, whores – a series of mean streets down which the poet as Private Eye must pass. This self-proclaimed “drive-in poet” has collaborated with the Swiss photographer Michael B. to make a rather Bukowskian, but certainly very readable collection of verse monologues. His similes can seem a little farfetched: “convoluted like / some lousy $2 dildo,” but they’re none the worse for that. Some of the poems would be better if they ended sooner, I think. The psychological moment passes, and a tendency to excess chokes the original strong point Carson was making. Michael B’s photographs, by contrast, are disciplined and precise and never stray off the point. The two complement each other well.

(9-10/3/02)

Spin 42 (2002): 61.

[166 wds]

Spin 42 (2002)


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T. Anders Carson: Stain (2001)

Jack Ross, ed.: Spin 39 (March 2001)

T. Anders Carson, Stain [spoken-word CD]. Westport, Ontario: Summit Sound, 2000. $15 ppd.

T. Anders Carson: Stain (2000)

More and more poetry books now come with their own CDs, and while many – not this one – are of indifferent quality, it’s hard not to feel that the time has arrived for this technology. T. Anders Carson, a Canadian who has made frequent (and welcome) appearances in these pages, has had the courage of his convictions and put himself out there in a nicely-packaged recording of his own voice-works. If I might venture a criticism of the production, I would say that there is a certain monotony in studio-based, voice-only recordings, which tends to limit their appeal to a general audience. It’s certainly expensive and challenging to find the appropriate soundscape to back up each poem or group of poems (and usually requires one to find suitably-skilled collaborators), but I think that it can turn a recording into a more nuanced experience for the listener. Having said that, though, there’s a lively honesty and a good store of thought-through detail in these poems which make them well worth a listen.

(3-4/3/2001)

Spin 39 (2001): 64.

[183 wds]

Spin 39 (2001)


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