The Sri Lankan Loxodrome (New Directions Paperbook) [Paperback]

Will Alexander (Author)

Book Description

Series: New Directions Paperbook | Publication Date: September 29, 2009

A mesmerizing poetry collection by “an ecstatic surrealist on imaginal hyperdrive” (Eliot Weinberger).

the maps one comes to know
are but boulders which are shattered by spoilage
                              —Will Alexander

In navigation a loxodrome, or rhumb-line, is a line that crosses all meridians at the same angle, maintaining one compass direction, a path of constant bearing. In his breakthrough poetry collection, The Sri Lankan Loxodrome, Will Alexander connects this theme to a lone Sri Lankan sailor who beheads sea snakes as an ongoing meditation while sailing the expanse of the Indian Ocean. Along the way he meets various African communities as he journeys eastward, from Madagascar to Sri Lanka. In lush, perfumed language filled with the spirit of Aimé Césaire and Sun Ra, Alexander maps an epic voyage unlike any other in contemporary poetry.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Alexander’s poems are unpunctuated, their expanding structures suggest that each might be read as a single very long, very complex sentence…a complex sentence machine turning out elaborate grammatical parallelisms, extensive series of epic catalogues, and open-ended syntax of discordant clauses and appended prepositional phrases. (HarRyette Mullen - Callaloo )

Alexander’s verbal flights strike me as more shamanistic than free-associational or automatic. His evocation of upper and lower worlds, and his vocabulary which bridges poetry, philosophy, myth, and science, give his verbal fulgurations a sense of linguistic seed that suddenly sprouts, then resprouts…. He may be the first major ‘outsider artist’ in American poetry. Whatever he is, he is a force to reckon with, whose self-propelled soarings evoke Simon Rodia’s ‘Watt’s Tower’ as well as Siberian ecstasies. (Clayton Eshleman - American Poet )

Formidable. Alexander encourages the reader to ... let the poem itself exist as its own unique world. (Andrew Wessels - The Quarterly Conversation )

An unusual poet who likes unusual word…these poems look fresh and alien. (Jesse Tangen-Mills - Times Literary Supplement )

About the Author

Will Alexander is a poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, and visual artist who lives in Los Angeles, the city where he was born in 1948. He was the recipient of a Whiting Fellowship for Poetry in 2001 and a California Arts Council Fellowship in 2002. Over the years he has worked several jobs (including the LA Lakers box office), has taught at various institutions, and has been associated with the nonprofit organization Theatre of Hearts/Youth First, working with underserved, at-risk youth.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: New Directions (September 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811218295
• ISBN-13: 978-0811218290
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #807,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ahoy, Mates!, September 30, 2009

By 

Steven Fama (San Francisco, California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sri Lankan Loxodrome (New Directions Paperbook) (Paperback)

Alexander's book, and in particular its title poem - a seventy page dramatic monologue - is a singular achievement by a singular poet. It deeply excites and inspires. I'm certain I'll re-read it again and again, from here on out, for as close to forever as I can get.

"The Sri Lankan Loxodrome," the title poem that closes the book, is in the voice of Loxodrome, a lone Sri Lankan who sails the Indian Ocean on a trawler, on a self-initiated mission to catch and de-poison sea snakes. A ghost or apparition named Gianini tries to undercut Loxodrome's efforts, mostly via whispered accusations.

An unusual poetic premise, you say? Well, it is, and that's not the half of it.

For a more detailed view, put the title of this book The Sri Lankan Loxodrome, and the word "glade," in a Blogger-friendly search engine, if you know what I mean and I think you do. But I'll say here that Alexander's poem explores a super-imaginative energy and spirit that remains vigorous and unyielding in a world with values, ways, systems, and people almost entirely opposed to it, and which at almost every turn seeks to subvert it. The affirmation of the persistence of the free radical mind and spirit, in a world antithetical to its existence, is a tour de force of energy and language.