Extreme Directions by Alice Jones. Omnidawn, 2002
Spinoza in Her Youth by Norma Cole. Omnidawn,2002
Etym(bi)ology by Liz Waldner. Omnidawn, 2002

       Omnidawn Press, run by editors Rusty Morrison and Ken Keegan, is off to a very auspicious beginning as a publisher of innovative writing–one can almost hear Pound in the background cheering them on. This year, Omnidawn has published three superb collection of poetry: Extreme Direction by Alice Jones, Spinoza in Her Youth by Norma Cole and Etym(bi)ology by Liz Waldner–all bold and consistent follow-ups to last year’s Harrow by Elizabeth Robinson and The Color of Dawn by Robin Caton. Next year, Omnidawn plans to publish titles by Lyn Hejinian and George Albon. With such a distinguished line-up, Omnidawn earns its title as "Publishers of Innovative Poetry."

Editor Rusty Morrison says that they solicited Jones, Cole and Waldner because these three writers’ work

fully embodies and extends our own aesthetic. While each of them has her own predilections, each comes to her project with passion and poise. They are passionately engaged in freeing us to find our own rapture in speech, which leaves us in rapt attention, unveiling and availing for us many orders of "presence" possible in language.

Passion and poise are defining qualities of all three collections, as well as their rapturous speech. But rather than consider them as a collective grouping of books, it is better to approach each volume individually.

Extreme Directions by Alice Jones

        Alice Jones says by way of introduction to her third collection: "This sequence evolved from my observation of the daily practice of Tai Chi Sword. I wanted the poems to evoke the movements’ fluidity, like Chinese brush stroke painting–one quick gesture." Thus each poem becomes an effective "quick gesture" kindled by the names of the Tai Chi movements with such delightful monikers as "Three rings cover the moon" and "Sweep dust with the wind." These colorful phrases act as linguistic catalysts that begin a movement (as passage of time), released by and created in a gesture–which is momentous in both its momentum and its movement (much in the vein of Basho’s "moment snatched from time"). Each Tai Chi movement is an opening into the poem; each movement also creates the poem as a sweeping gesture, an underlying eroticism of the present–the sexiness of time and its passage–so fluid and graceful in its language, and the movement that the language attempts to capture. While such a framing device could become tiresome after a while, in Jones’ deft hands, her sword never falters.
           These are not static poems; they are not frozen moments, rather they are living, breathing swatches. These poem/moments are deep breaths that begin with an inhalation, yet do not end with exhalation-they linger and resonate as though the lines are significantly longer than they appear on the page. However, there is a definite sense of beginning and end in Extreme Directions: the first poem is called "Beginning form"; the last, "Sword back to its origin." These gestures give a sense of solidity to the work as a whole, because the origin of all these poems is the movement. And the attendant passage of these brief moments lead into one another with the grace of the Tai Chi form after which they are modeled.
          The critical thing to realize about Jones, though, is that these poems are not easy in their structure. While they begin with Tai Chi, each poem ends with the poet’s "interpretation" of these movements. She explores the visual and spatial realms of the circles that comprise part of these poems, a reflection of her concern with cyclic patterns and her relation with them as a poet: "So certain / of nothing / but the circle." Inside and outside of this circle, Jones also makes note of and reflexively explores her gestures in the presence of (an)other: "You / untranslatable / into me" and "The you / me thing."
         It is useful to consider these poems not as "translations" of the Tai Chi sword discipline, but as larger explorations of space and time in which the aesthetic of Tai Chi has been included. One of the underlying dynamics in this collection is the fact that Jones makes the act of composition so sensual and seemingly effortless, just as a Tai Chi master makes the combat/dance look so fluid and graceful.

Spinoza in Her Youth by Norma Cole

        The linguistic ambiguity of Norma Cole’s title begins to prepare the reader for this collection of vast poems–poems that fearlessly explore the convergence/divergence of a multiplicity of issues and subjects. Cole even grapples with depicting zero itself–not simply via use of white space, but by exploring the paradox of describing the cipheric space "between the figures and the / elsewhere"–an echo of what Omnidawn Editor Rusty Morrison says the press seeks: "poetry that opens all manner of fissures, that jars and disrupts complacency."
         Additionally, Cole’s poetry is very much rooted in this world, dancing around the empty spaces and attempting to fill it with "her words" that are "the living" and quite lively. Her "process is not to copy" as she is already aware of the problems of mimetic representation. Instead, she allows the world to seep into these poems, speaking for itself. Cole is a poignant observer and resists over-crafting at critical moments, as she self-referentially acknowledges in "Xtreme Reading," saying that any excessive reworking "could only be / disrupting" because what happened is sufficient. Though there is loss between event and her recollection of it, she negotiates the dilemma skillfully and successfully–after all, "a person draws an image and on the surface of an image."
           The reader wonders after a while: where has this book come from? From "between the figures and the/ elsewhere"? Cole is an unabashedly philosophical poet, as well as being firmly rooted in her process and boldly juxtaposes images of the quotidian and "subjectivity in the objectification of the gaze." She confronts the instability of the "I," saying there is "no architect / no grand plan, universal debris." This playful denial of the "I" draws attention to her other concerns, such as issues surrounding identity, gender, etc. The "I" in this collection is amorphous and changing: at one moment Pessoa or Raleigh and at another an analytical female presence. To whom this poem/book is addressed becomes equally tangled, as she reminds the reader when she addresses her poem(s) "To ______."
          Finally, Cole is fully aware of the book itself as a form and convention which she attempts to subvert in "The End" –there is not one end, but four–a multiplicity that informs the book as a whole. The circularity of such statements as "the end becomes the beginning (again)"causes the work to look in on itself in a manner that attempts to render itself objectively, but "the next day it was a simple wall again"–a wall to surmount or see through.

Etym(bi)ology by Liz Waldner

       In Waldner’s fourth collection, the reader finds–as the title suggests–a jubilant dissection of language, though there is no cold, scientific approach found anywhere in this volume. Etym(bi)ology is a playground of etymology and the joyful exploration of it: from parapraxes to Waldner’s awareness of her own role in the poetic tradition.
          Waldner explores the convergence of history and the innumerable implications of language–she is an unapologetically political writer. She is not afraid to "Take the ‘Riot’ Personally." Yet for all of the weight of such subjects, there is something deceptively casual about Waldner’s presentation of such loaded material. She manages to fully engage the reader into her book/world, quietly and sometimes boldly with such seductive exhortations as "Darling, darling," as if she is and always has been on such terms with those engaged.
          In "Rescue Work," the reader encounters a poem chat-room-like in its immediacy, complete with computer messages scrolling across the screen/page. Just as the Futurists hailed the new technology of their time, Waldner acknowledges the computer–the quintessential tool of many poets today–as a tool of composition. She says in an earlier poem, "Angr" (also truncated in its urgency) "I could erase it all away" with the stroke of a key, contributing to the poem’s sense of fragility and temporality in the face of such an omnipresent medium.
        Waldner disallows herself to be weighed down by history and language, which opens a realm of levity and playfulness even during her most serious moments. Thus the reader discovers such delightful juxtapositions among phrases like "Foucaultian Problematic" playing in the same neighborhood as (ersatz?) headlines like "MISSIONARY POSITION PROVED SUBVERSIVE." These moments act as momentum building events that propel the reader and writer alike through the collection, simultaneously tethering both in "this world" and creating their own momentum, which pistons both through the text(s).
          Waldner’s concerns are multiplicitous: Rosmarie Waldrop rightfully claims that what obsesses a writer will eventually emerge in that writer’s work. Waldner opens many windows onto her concerns in the form of poignant observations about contemporary culture. In "Desinit In Piscim/A Fish Tale" she asserts

           ...serial killer is code
for Rape and Torture women.
The latest: rape rates up 59% this year.
But not to worry; overall number
"still RATHER SMALL"

In this hyper-lucid moment of bitter irony, Waldner presents the reader with a chilling miniature case study in contemporary cause and effect.

          Waldner, Cole and Jones fit exceedingly well into the Omnidawn’s aesthetic trajectory, demonstrating Omnidawn’s interest in what Editor Ken Keegan describes as writing that looks at

the directions our culture is headed, what the future of human life will be, with a serious exploration of the obvious dystopian possibilities facing our world. To counter this, we need also to focus on the beauty and sanctity of the living world around us from a magical non-materialist perspective.

Rusty Morrison adds to this notion, saying that Omnidawn perceives "poetry as a vital means of awakening mind from the narcotizing agencies of our capitalist culture: that such a ‘dawn’ing is possible." With such ambitious ideals driving Omnidawn Press, it is no wonder the three collections they have selected this year glow with such wonder and conscience.