Social Poesis: The Poetry of Rachel Zolf, selected with an introduction by Heather Milne

Trapped in this high-performance culture, let’s suspend,

all disbelief, ignore the elephants in the room.

I won’t remember that avant-garde chaos frees the writing

machine’s choked circuits.

Our abstractions stink of pure gibberish and no one

notices the false pundits.

Look through the mirror, it’s the information Age, where

every surface is 1793 brilliant urine requests scum wolf,

and nothing shines. (“Human Resources”)

The past few days I’ve been going through Social Poesis: The Poetry of Rachel Zolf, selected with an introduction by Heather Milne (Waterloo ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2019), the latest title in the expansive Laurier Poetry Series of critical selecteds. Editor Heather Milne assembled the collection Social Poesis by selecting from Canadian expat poet Rachel Zolf’s five trade poetry collections—Her absence, this wanderer (Ottawa ON: BuschekBooks, 1999), Masque (Toronto ON: The Mercury Press, 2004), Human Resources (Toronto ON: Coach House Books, 2007), Neighbour Procedure (Coach House Books, 2010) and Janey’s Arcadia (Coach House Books, 2014)—as well as from her online digital poetic project The Tolerance Project (http://thetoleranceproject.blogspot.com). I’ve long been fascinated by Zolf’s project-based work, something that has become more overt as she continues to publish, utilized to examine human interaction, and a variety of social and cultural histories. The book-length Human Resources, for example, was a magnificent examination of human interaction and dislocation through the corporate language; a language, it would seem, deliberately constructed to dehumanize. Zolf might utilize external means to produce work, but her concerns are deeply human, from the intimate to the professional to the historical, and the dark elements that so often are deliberately set aside, as Milne writes as part of her “Introduction” to the collection:

            In one of the poems in Human Resources, Zolf cites fellow Canadian poet Anne Carson, who asks, in relation to Paul Celan’s severely redacted poetry, “What is lost when words are wasted? And where is the human store to which such goods are gathered?” Zolf responds to Carson’s question with a question of her own: “When you ‘cleanse words and salvage what is cleansed,’ so you collect what’s been scrubbed off or what remains?” In other words, do you salvage the grime that has been removed, or do you valorize the beautiful language that has been scrubbed immaculately clean?”

What is helpful in this collection is the sequence of notes presented at the opening of sections that provide some context to the book/project being excerpted, such as the note on Masque that informs that “Zolf has compared this book to a play in which multiple characters are trying to talk at the same time, creating a polyphonic series of poems.” to the note on Janey’s Arcadia, that opens with: “Zolf makes use of optical character recognition software (OCR) that scans PDFs of archival texts into Word documents. OCR often misreads words and inserts strange symbols and characters into the text. Rather than correct these errors, Zolf embraces them as part of her compositional strategy. The glitches disrupt the poems that make them difficult to read, but they also become a site where meaning is generated.” This book exists as both an impressive overview of Zolf’s ongoing work, and a wonderful introduction to what she’s accomplished so far, much of which, I would argue, hasn’t received the attention it so clearly deserves. As Zolf herself writes, to close her “Afterword”:

            One wag famously suggested that “philosophy ought really to be written only as a poetic composition,” and I’ll wag back that the writer of any composition ought to take responsibility for the stance they are writing from and how what they write relates to the world they live in. I am a white-skinned, middle-class, Canadian, secular Jewish, genderqueer lesbian poet and thinker and educator and lover and abuse survivor and also sax player and other identities as well. I am here (like and not like Abraham) cloaked in ambivalence. Do these words matter when forty-nine mostly Latinx and black queer and trans people are massacred in Orlando while they dance? There is the so-called constative and the so-called performative. There is testimony and there are four chimneys blown beyond knowledge to deformed freedom. There is author, vendor, rhetor … all witness and sometimes survivor. There is a poem and there is un essai, a try, a poethical wager. A traviler is made. There is a monster in the neighbour’s face. That alien traumatic kernel of Das Ding in the Nebenmensch adjoins and hystericizes me as the both/and that exceeds and opens thought. yes and no are unsplit neighbours housed in abrasive proximity in the poem. Du liest is you read and you glean. There is a thinking encrypted in silence and a thinking encrusted in noise. There is a listening to what is unsayable. There is blur when I try to see one thing. There is a reach, a touch, impress. There is a limit and a limit and a limit and, peut-être, a threshold, break. As the impure products of America go crazy, there is un éveil, a queerly errant arousal. There is a veil, (im)ovable. No One arrives to witness and adjust. There is an experience that cannot be translated. No One can drive the car. There is an experience that cannot be undone. I am undone. There is a time that could have been then and a time that will have been now and a time always already to come. These coincide. We are what we gain from this disorientation.

Stephanie Lenox, The Business

ON METAPHOR

Your boss is an ass. Your pay, shit.

Each day feels like two, every task pointing

to another: the nine-to-five multiplying paperwork.

No wonder you’re tired, two bosses on your back,

the boss of what is and the boss of what could be.

Of course, you don’t get paid more

for taking on new work. It’s the price, you say,

of competence. Your job is a ship

propelling you forward. It is a lead weight, a bird.

No one knows what’s in your briefcase,

not even you, but you carry it back and forth,

part of the uniform, a symbol of duty.

A raise is not just more money. The coffee pot

is a sacred monument. One floor above,

one floor below, someone like you worries

over his retirement, rearranges pens,

reads a headline of national progress

then turns to the photo of a car wreck.

On your own, you have no authority:

each decision you make must be approved

by another, and for that you’re glad,

sharing the weight if something goes wrong

but also the glory if all goes right, the business

of making something else for someone else,

endlessly generous, the work of work.

Oregon poet and editor Stephanie Lenox’s second full-length poetry collection, The Business (Fort Collins CO: The Center for Literary Publishing, 2016), focuses on the battle to keep soul and body intact within the dehumanizing, and even soul-destroying, aspects of the office/cubicle workspace. The book is reminiscent, in terms of subject matter, of Rachel Zolf’s remarkable Human Resources (Toronto ON: Coach House Books, 2007) [see my review of such here], a poetry book directly constructed from the dehumanized language of office culture. Lenox, on her part, focuses less on the language than on the experiences, culture and space of office life, critically savaging elements of what she paints to be as a combination of painfully superficial and an incredibly dehumanizing drone-culture. As she writes to open the poem “THE COST”: “Each year the sun burns closer to the skin / and the skin yields to it.”

The poems in The Business are sharp, witty and occasionally funny (without falling prey to being overly “clever”), but the ones that really stand out are the longer list poems, themselves constructed as accumulations that are as much meant to be heard, and push far further in scope and tone than other pieces in the collection, such as the six-page “TEAMWORK,” that opens:

Let’s make this the best day ever.

Let’s go to work.

Let’s look at how we can improve the process.

Let’s create a flowchart, a spreadsheet, a PowerPoint presentation.

Let’s make it sparkle.

Let’s really make it shine.

Let’s all remember to fill out our vacation requests.

Let’s call tech support and see what they have to say.

Let’s put in 110%.

Let’s make it a team effort.

Let’s make it look like we do work around here.

Let’s give it up for Carl in the corner office.

Let’s give it a rest.

It is poems such as this, as well as “REJOICE IN THE PETTY THIEVERY OF OFFICE SUPPLIES,” that really push the absurdities of a particular kind of office-work existence. Through the remaining poems, Lenox writes out small frustrations, small pockets of frustrations and experiences that, themselves, accumulate into what becomes the larger collection, but these longer, list-y poems elevate the office existence into a kind of meaninglessness, showcasing a culture of work for work’s sake, and a power dynamic that not only corrupts but corrodes, and for remarkably little purpose.

ON MYTHOLOGY

Every story begins with a slight—

golden-apple hand grenade tossed into the crowd.

Until that moment, no one is thinking about ideals.

Being perfect is simply a way to pass the time.

Then enters Doubt, a chorus of questions,

someone new on the scene, an intern, perhaps.

Add fire or flood, a touch of unfaithfulness.

Damage that must be paid for again and again.

Pain at the center of all story. Pain. At the center.

Oh, how we love our stories.

A journey, a war, a mesmerizing face.

The myth is that we think it will be different.

Character and plot: one rock, one endless, bone-heaped hill.

To be angry is to take your place among the gods.

Margaret Christakos' Influency 10: A Toronto Poetry Salon; rob mclennan + others,

Influency 10: A Toronto Poetry Salon
April 6- June 8 2011 (no class June 1)
Wednesday evenings, 7-9:30 pm (we begin promptly at 7:05 and make every effort to end by 9:30; some classes may extend to 10pm).
Rm 108, St George Campus Health Sciences Building, University of Toronto [campus map here]
One block west of University, south side of College St. Queen's Park subway station at College and University.

With featured guest poets Kaie Kellough, Larissa Lai, Camille Martin, rob mclennan, Erin Moure, Mark Truscott, Daniel Scott Tysdal and Rachel Zolf
Facilitated by Margaret Christakos

Course number 1777 - 010
Register at www.learn.utoronto.ca
University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies Creative Writing program.
No prerequisite.
For readers and writers alike. A powerful way to reconnect with poetry, to build bridges into the contemporary poetry scene, and to deepen critical engagement with poetry. Many writers and literature buffs attend this course; the class is equally welcoming to people with a beginner's level of experience with reading poetry. Adults from 18-1000 years welcome. Approximately half the registrants in any given session have taken previous sessions of the class; and each session we welcome newcomers. The course may count towards a certificate in creative writing, or be taken for pleasure. Registrants compose readerly critical responses to books weekly, and write a final "Intertext" reflecting on two or more of the books studied, for presentation. Registrants also take turns in small groups introducing guests and bringing along snacks and non-alcoholic beverages to produce a congenial social environment for each evening.
Course $249 plus $130 book fee (8 poetry books). Fee is paid at first class by personal cheque or cash.

Mark Truscott, Nature (Book Thug, 2010)  April 27 and May 4
Daniel Scott Tysdal, The Mourner's book of Albums (Tightrope Books, 2010) April 20 and May 4
Kaie Kellough, Maple Leaf Rag (Arbeiter Ring Publishing) May 11 and May 18
rob mclennan, Wild Horses (University of Alberta Press, 2010) April 13 and May 18
Rachel Zolf, Neighbour Procedure (Coach House, 2010) May 25
Larissa Lai, Automaton Biographies (Arsenal Pulp, 2009) April 20 and April 27
Camille Martin, Sonnets (Shearsman, 2010) April 13 and May 11
Erin Moure, Pillage Laud (BookThug, new issue 2011) May 25

Influency: A Toronto Poetry Salon has run twice annually from Fall 2006. In each session, 8 accomplished poets working in distinctive styles will appear as both guest readers and peer critics in this unique lecture-reading series hosted by Margaret Christakos. Each poet's critique of a colleague's work will be followed with a reading by the poet under discussion. A group discussion led by Christakos will follow. Students will accumulate critical vocabulary to discuss more fluently the divergences of approach, motive, process and product typical of Toronto's multitraditional literary culture. The 8-book package under discussion will be available in class for $130. Register a week prior to course beginning if possible to facilitate smooth running of a complex course! Note this spring's session is 9 in-class meetings, with an extended evening on May 25 at an off-campus location.

The course has also spawned a fledgling online magazine called www.influencysalon.ca; please visit to see some of the essays and responses presented at some of our earlier classes.

This spring's course will run as follows:

April 6 opening evening (For MC and registrants)

April 13 rob mclennan speaking on Camille Martin's Sonnets

April 20 Daniel Scott Tysdal speaking on Larissa Lai's Automaton Biographies

April 27 Larissa Lai speaking on Mark Truscott's Nature

May 4 Mark Truscott on Daniel Scott Tysdal's The Mourner's Book of Albums

May 11 Camille Martin speaking on Kaie Kellough's Maple Leaf Rag

May 18 Kaie Kellough speaking on rob mclennan's Wild Horses

May 25
A combined evening at a venue not on U of T campus, also open to public (for a door fee).
Rachel Zolf on Erin Moure's Pillage Laud AND Erin Moure on Rachel Zolf's Neighbour Procedure

No class June 1

June 8 Final potluck and Student Intertexts on Influency 9 authors and books (important! please attend!)

* * *

For more info, mchristakos@hotmail.com 

The Olive Reading Series: season eleven

I’ve long been a fan of Edmonton’s Olive Reading Series, possibly even being the author most featured in its first five years, a series now well into its eleventh season. Running the course of the school year, each of the monthly readings usually features a single poet, and a publication produced as give-away at the event. Still, after years of wondering, why don’t they offer subscriptions to those of us who can’t actually attend the readings? I’m sure there are individuals and even institutions who would love to get their hands on copies. Here are a couple of these I recently received.

September 14, 2010: There can only be incredible envy, knowing that Edmonton was treated to Robert Kroetsch’s poem “All the Dead Husbands,” a thirteen-part sequence that ends with:

13 Seniors’ Residence

All the dead husbands partake

of the ache they once were.

Their widows make love to them daily,

just after three, over coffee and cake.

How many poets these days are writing pieces about living in a senior’s home? It’s no secret that Kroetsch has been, for at least a year or two, returning from Winnipeg to his hometown of Leduc, just south of Edmonton. This is classic Kroetsch, a lovely sequence easing his slow way through thinking, with echoes of the poem “After Paradise” that currently ends his Completed Field Notes (1989; reissued 2001), a poem that originally appeared very quietly at the back of an issue of Prairie Fire. With his most recent poetry collection less than a year old—his Too Bad: Sketches Toward a Self-Portrait (Edmonton AB: University of Alberta Press, 2010)—he seems to be returning to the habits of publishing, with the dual-chapbook publication The Lost Narrative of Mrs. David Thompson (Edited by Robert Kroetsch) (2009) and Ten Simple Questions for David Thompson (Recorded by Robert Kroetsch) (2009) [see my review of such here] produced through Nicole Markotić’s Windsor, Ontario Wrinkle Press, as well as the rumours of another manuscript recently deposited at Jason Dewinetz’ Greenboathouse [he refers to such here, in his “12 or 20 (small press) questions” interview]. Can another full trade collection be far behind?

October 12, 2010: A couple of years back, poet Rachel Zolf put out a call for something she called “The Tolerance Project.” As she explains at the beginning of her small chapbook:

Eighty-six writers, artists and thinkers have donated their poetic DNA to what could be the first collaborative MFA in Creative Writing ever, The Tolerance Project.

Each piece of poetic DNA donated to The Tolerance Project is assigned a barcode. Each poem written for the MFA employs traces from the donated traces. The MFA poems are restricted to The Tolerance Project Archive (www.thetoleranceprojectarchive.org) of poetic DNA for their content. MFA poems and donor barcodes are posted on The Tolerance Project blog (thetoleranceproject.blogspot.com).

Based on cumulative feedback received within and without the institution, the MFA poems posted on The Tolerance Project blog will be scrupulously revised toward the creation of The Writing Thesis.

The poems that follow employ poetic DNA traces from Tolerance Project donors Emily Beall, Joel Bettridge, Christian Bök, Jules Boykoff, Di Brandt, Angela Carr, Jen Currin, Sarah Dowling, Laura Elrick, Rob Fitterman, Lyn Hejinian, Dorothy Trujillo Lusk, Nicole Markotić, Dawn Lundy Martin, Erica Meiners, Erín Moure, The Office of Institutional Research, Bob Perelman, Tim Peterson, Vanessa Place, Kristin Prevallet, Arlo Quint, Rob Read, Kit Robinson, Susan Schultz, Juliana Spahr, John Stout, Lola Lemire Tostevin, Aaron Tucker and Rachel Zolf.

Is this truly a collaboration, or a donated series of items collaged? And how does such become writing, become poetry (I was asked to participate in the project as well, but other distractions wouldn’t allow for it, which I am currently regretting even more than before)? The author of a number of poetry collections, her third, Human Resources (Toronto ON: Coach House Books, 2007), reworked dehumanized language often used in business offices, and reworking such to explore the human aspects hidden within. I’m intrigued by such a project, wondering where such might be leading her exploration into the boundaries of reworking language from one system into another, in this case, reworking a number of other systems into another number of systems.

A limit laid down

Intercommunity of various sentiments

Na persoun sould intromet thairwith

Satisfied the curiosity of the astonished black

And Naked shaking to shew his indulgence

Flourishing despite infection with the sleeping sick

Capacity of a tree to endure cartholicity of spirit

Tamarack, Poplar, Bird Cherry, White and Black

Ash borne without producing gastric symptoms

To decorate with all the splendor of panegyric

Trees give way as water drops below standard fineness

Throwing a veil over the deformities of a product parameter

Imperfection with the instrumentality of Perfection

Under control, or to use a more Christian word, charity

How the metal cools and can be withdrawn

To what extent “dancing girls” forbears euphemism

No such thing as a literally harmless dose of radiation

February 8, 2011: I’m always interested when I see poetry by Winnipeg poet, teacher and editor Dennis Cooley, including the three poems that make up his chapbook His Vernacular Prairie. The two poems—“as for me & my id” and “others are”—sound as though they might possibly be part of his ongoing and extensive “love in a dry land” works, riffing off Sinclair Ross’ classic prairie novel, As for Me and My House (1941). Cooley’s poetic has always relied on the breath, the endless prairie line stretching and riffing across the page, and lyric pun and wordplay, furthering more than most could even be able to conceive. Is it any wonder his poetry manuscripts end up in their hundreds of pages, boiled down or excerpted for the sake of trade publication? If this is from his long-awaited project, it would join other previously-published pieces including poems from Sunfall: new and selected poems (Toronto ON: House of Anansi, 1996), the “Dennis Cooley issue” of Prairie Fire (1998) and the trade volumes Country Music: New Poems (Vernon BC: Kalamalka Press, 2004) and The Bentleys (Edmonton AB: University of Alberta Press, 2006). Just how does a work get so big?

And as an added bonus, the bio to his chapbook mentions that he is “working on several manuscripts, including a collection of essays on Robert Kroetsch,” which will certainly be worth the wait; but why must we wait?

For more information on any of their publications or the series itself, check them out at: olivereadingseries.wordpress.com