Poetry. In THE TREES THE TREES, the follow-up to Heather Christle's acclaimed first collection, THE DIFFICULT FARM, each new line is a sharp turn toward joy and heartbreak, and each poem unfolds like a bat through the wild meaninglessness of the world. "You get the impression of the oracle at Delphi trying her hand at stand-up or jamming the broadcast of the nightly news: Christle's gift for welding surreal visions to living speech rhythms keeps unlocking new surprises, page after page. At least once per poem, you feel like the triple-bars just lined up in the slot-machine window, and you laugh or cry out"—John Darnielle.
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If you're thinking about a new tattoo, may I recommend dropping your finger onto any random phrase in Heather Christle's new book? That's how keen her ear for the off-the-cuff aphorism is, how neatly her lines break into glistening parts. You get the impression of the oracle at Delphi trying her hand at stand-up or jamming the broadcast of the nightly news: Christle's gift for welding surreal visions to living speech rhythms keeps unlocking new surprises, page after page. At least once per poem, you feel like the triple-bars just lined up in the slot-machine window, and you laugh or cry out --John Darnielle
Heather Christle's second collection, The Trees The Trees, is ecstatic, breathless, full of incandescent humor and wonder, full of miniature moment s hums, pocked with graceful elisions and gasps; there is spell bound play and intense intimacy in each gap toothed, center-justified prose poem. Read and love her seemingly spontaneous utterances spun from her rapt attention to daily life, nature, solitude, romance, to her own reeling and enchanting imagination. --Cathy Park Hong
Heather Christle's second collection, The Trees The Trees, is ecstatic, breathless, full of incandescent humor and wonder, full of miniature moment s hums, pocked with graceful elisions and gasps; there is spell bound play and intense intimacy in each gap toothed, center-justified prose poem. Read and love her seemingly spontaneous utterances spun from her rapt attention to daily life, nature, solitude, romance, to her own reeling and enchanting imagination. --Cathy Park Hong
About the Author
Heather Christle is the author of THE TREES THE TREES (Octopus Books, 2011) and THE DIFFICULT FARM (Octopus Books, 2009), and a chapbook, The Seaside! (Minutes Books, 2010). Her poems have appeared widely in publications including The Believer, Boston Review, Gulf Coast, and The New Yorker. She has taught at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and at Emory University, where she was the 2009-2011 Creative Writing Fellow. She is the Web Editor for jubilat and frequently a writer in residence at the Juniper Summer Writing Institute. A native of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, she lives in Western Massachusetts.
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Heather Christle is the author of three poetry collections, THE DIFFICULT FARM (Octopus, 2009), THE TREES THE TREES (Octopus, 2011), and WHAT IS AMAZING (Wesleyan 2012). A native of Wolfeboro, NH, she now lives in Western Massachusetts. More information is at heatherchristle.tumblr.com.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Kent Shaw
Format:Paperback
You know that omniscient narrator you read about in your Introduction to Literature class? The one who knows everything that's happening in the story? Imagine what would happen if you gave that narrator a microphone. And you said, Now, you're a speaker. Speak! Now, you're a tree. Speak! Now you're lonely or funny or 8 years old or a nail-gun or an enemy or the kind of person who dwells on having enemies or water or a hand-bag. And now none of us care what you are, we just want you to speak. Speak! Speak!!
Because that's the impulse behind The Trees The Trees. Speech. Whatever comes to mind. Whatever realistic boundaries can be blurred or eliminated or redefined. And, to be clear, with a declarative sentence, it's very convenient to set anything to be anything else. Language is that easy. It's the most efficient thing in our language! I mean if you're half-hedgehog, half-man, and you want to become a tree, use your words. Say it, don't draw it. Drawing it makes it too complicated. And let me assure you, these are Christle's instructions. My instructions: be grateful this book of poems exists! Get thee to Christle!
In fact, with The Trees The Trees, saying anything feels like the easiest, most fantastic activity anyone ever thought of. It's like saying could get you out of anything. Are you stuck inside a room? Just say you're not in the room. Do you miss your friends? Say you're eavesdropping on them from a safe distance. Are you afraid of flying? Say the sun. It's like that omniscient narrator I mentioned at the beginning has been given the chance to experience a more realistic self who has boundaries, who's maybe human. Maybe not human, but a tree instead. Maybe a tree with a long list of things to do. Either way, or any way, the omniscientness really appreciates getting to try something new, even while it slips out of that realistic self into another reality. There are other realities!
If you're fortunate enough to be a reader of Christle's book, you'll feel like you're trying on something new all the time. It might be that's what reality is supposed to have been all along. It's like you're taking a yellow highlighter to all of Russel Edson's poems and coloring in everything. Or it's like you put Dean Young's poems into one of those hot rods from the Fast and the Furious movies (I think I prefer Tokyo Drift on the merit of movie previews alone), and you're like, Dean Young! Step on it! Not to put too obscure a point on it, but Christle has uncovered that poetic note where everything feels as though it's constantly blooming, and the blooms that just bloomed have blooms inside them blooming. There is an unimpedable, unquenchable, unbelievable energy in these poems. Take a picture of your favorite person smiling, tape it to your computer monitor and then smile back it. Everything in Christle's poems is that easy. And enjoyable. Even grief. Even alienation. Love is probably one of the things that makes the world go around. Read Christle's book and you'll find out what other parts of life are involved.
Because that's the impulse behind The Trees The Trees. Speech. Whatever comes to mind. Whatever realistic boundaries can be blurred or eliminated or redefined. And, to be clear, with a declarative sentence, it's very convenient to set anything to be anything else. Language is that easy. It's the most efficient thing in our language! I mean if you're half-hedgehog, half-man, and you want to become a tree, use your words. Say it, don't draw it. Drawing it makes it too complicated. And let me assure you, these are Christle's instructions. My instructions: be grateful this book of poems exists! Get thee to Christle!
In fact, with The Trees The Trees, saying anything feels like the easiest, most fantastic activity anyone ever thought of. It's like saying could get you out of anything. Are you stuck inside a room? Just say you're not in the room. Do you miss your friends? Say you're eavesdropping on them from a safe distance. Are you afraid of flying? Say the sun. It's like that omniscient narrator I mentioned at the beginning has been given the chance to experience a more realistic self who has boundaries, who's maybe human. Maybe not human, but a tree instead. Maybe a tree with a long list of things to do. Either way, or any way, the omniscientness really appreciates getting to try something new, even while it slips out of that realistic self into another reality. There are other realities!
If you're fortunate enough to be a reader of Christle's book, you'll feel like you're trying on something new all the time. It might be that's what reality is supposed to have been all along. It's like you're taking a yellow highlighter to all of Russel Edson's poems and coloring in everything. Or it's like you put Dean Young's poems into one of those hot rods from the Fast and the Furious movies (I think I prefer Tokyo Drift on the merit of movie previews alone), and you're like, Dean Young! Step on it! Not to put too obscure a point on it, but Christle has uncovered that poetic note where everything feels as though it's constantly blooming, and the blooms that just bloomed have blooms inside them blooming. There is an unimpedable, unquenchable, unbelievable energy in these poems. Take a picture of your favorite person smiling, tape it to your computer monitor and then smile back it. Everything in Christle's poems is that easy. And enjoyable. Even grief. Even alienation. Love is probably one of the things that makes the world go around. Read Christle's book and you'll find out what other parts of life are involved.
By Nic
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Reading Christle is like being in a grade-school pushing circle; where even though you are getting constantly jerked back and forth, misdirected, made dizzy, and disoriented in a blur of colors, you will eventually find yourself on the ground, laughing. Her mastery of turns in this book really drives the effectiveness of her poetic style. Her poems have the ability to be hilarious, serious, about the mundane, and intellectual all at the same time. The fragmented form and line spacing/breaks give an initial feeling of suddenness or gasping as if each piece was spontaneously exclaimed; however, there is always an undercurrent of deep connection and feeling between the themes on which Christle is working. That being said, she's certainly a poet that teaches the reader how to read her work, but the payoff is absolutely worth any first-time confusion. She seems to encourage the reader to loosen up a bit and not be so concerned about any expectations of conventional narrative, while at the same time keeping your thoughts directed towards the poem in a "not-so-fast" kind of method. In her first poem, "That Air of Ruthlessness in Spring," she gives us the disclaimer, "I am just having a little fun...I want to show you something/ I don't care what/ I want/ you to look where I say," to which she definitely delivers. "The Trees The Trees" is an excellent work that wonderfully exhibits not only contesting of the traditional form and structure in a unique way, but also encourages the reader's participation in her work. In this sense, Christle's poetry is anything but exclusive or intimidating. I would recommend this book of poetry to anyone who wants to have a refreshing challenge to their narrative/poetic biases, and who wants to laugh while doing so.
By Tyler
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I am still somewhat in shock. These poems are beautiful, funny and borderline mystic. There is a distinct and unpredictable rhythm to them. I bought this book on recommendation without even realizing that John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats was the one who wrote the blurb recommending it. He summarizes it better than I ever could:
"You get the impression of the oracle at Delphi trying her hand at stand-up or jamming the broadcast of the nightly news: Christle's gift for welding surreal visions to living speech rhythms keeps unlocking new surprises, page after page. At least once per poem, you feel like the triple-bars just lined up in the slot-machine window, and you laugh or cry out."
If you like poetry you will like these poems. Highly recommended.
Highlights: "The Whole Thing Is the Hard Part," "Inside Terminal E," "Poem Consisting Entirely of Advice," "Soup Is One Form of Salt Water," "Trying to Return the Sun"(less)
"You get the impression of the oracle at Delphi trying her hand at stand-up or jamming the broadcast of the nightly news: Christle's gift for welding surreal visions to living speech rhythms keeps unlocking new surprises, page after page. At least once per poem, you feel like the triple-bars just lined up in the slot-machine window, and you laugh or cry out."
If you like poetry you will like these poems. Highly recommended.
Highlights: "The Whole Thing Is the Hard Part," "Inside Terminal E," "Poem Consisting Entirely of Advice," "Soup Is One Form of Salt Water," "Trying to Return the Sun"(less)
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