Beams on Blazevox Category:  Poetry Publisher: Blazevox Books ISBN-10:  5872649175 Pages: 70 Copyright: October 1, 2007 ISBN-13: 9785872649175 "Beams," in four parts, is a hybrid of Modern, post-modern, and Romantic impulses. "Beams" was first released in e-book form by Blazevox in 2007.  Excerpt Becky Grace It’s woven into her, that polo shirt. She might even fuck w/ it. Not “we”, post-we or sub-we, but just “pseudo”, “quasi”, “ersatz”. Nothing w/ “self” in it; nothing implying discrete boundaries. Becky isn’t bounded, or has boundlessness woven into her… Polo shirts are what they are, remain so. If I say “objective correlative”, I bring string into it, so that Becky might be strung up. I don’t deny a “literal” element, or that Becky might stay in. All I mean is, between “us”, there’s “more-than-us”. That’s what I’m “getting at”; it’s woven into me

Jeffrey Side on Beams (from Galatea Resurrects)
Beams by Adam Fieled is an e-book from Blazevox. It is a multifaceted work that is both formally and typographically inventive, as well as being linguistically intriguing. To do full justice to the poetry in this volume would require a much longer and detailed review of essay length; such is the complexity and multifaceted nature of this work. So all I will attempt in this review is to isolate certain features that can be readily recognised.

Beams comprises four titled sections: ‘Beams’, ‘Apparition Poems’, ‘Madame Psychoses’, and ‘Virtual Pinball’ (this latter being composed with poet Lars Palm). Each of these sections contain poems stylistically different to those of the other sections. An important aspect to the ‘Beams’ section is Fieled’s poetic aesthetic regarding it. The poems in it represent his concept of the poetic “beam”. The following is an extract from his exposition of this poetic, which can be read at http://artrecess2.blogspot.com/2005/08/beam-hypothesis.html:
[A beam is] a short poem, 8-20 lines [not] necessarily impersonal or personal, but it must transcend mere subjectivity […] single lines interspersed function as “beams of light”. They're pure shots into poetic space, flashes of imagery, insight, gist-phrasing, etc. Light-beams illuminate built-beams [ie architectural structures], built-beams support and buttress light-beams. Together, they posit the BEAM as a kind of “light-house” or “light-structure”.

The manifestation of this poetic aesthetic in the ‘Beams’ section applies to all of its poems, but other aspects tangentially related also pertain, particularly where colour (light) and matter (objects) are made to amalgamate in such a way as to produce an almost iridescent affect which draws attention to the “variability” that underlies phenomena (according to quantum theory). The aesthetic result is that material objects are seen to display less than palpable qualities: light becomes semi-palpable in ‘Creep’ (p.7) were it is described as ‘Sponge-light’, and in ‘Leaves’ (p.12) matter becomes semi-iridescent:

Leaves tonight are leaning
spots of light […]

The use of such affects serves to give us a sense of the underlying subatomic volatility that forms the objects of the observed world. It has a sort of Blakean sense whereby the visible world is seen to envelop a subtler one. The world is not all it seems to be. In doing this with words, Fieled makes almost tangible to our senses what can but remain only rational inference if we are reliant on same from a study of quantum physics. No small achievement for a poet.

However, the poems are not limited to such affects. They also manage to concisely represent the vicissitudes of human experience in all their variations. In ‘Razor’ (p.8) we find lines such as,

edged like needle-scars along arm-veins
everything I can’t puncture is there

which in association with the lines,
bottoms grow hardened from rubs
& sharpness be a baby’s candy

not only produce an interesting juxtaposition, but also represent birth and death. They suggest the bitterness, regret, and frustration that is the lot of humanity, yet they also suggest hope in that we become hardened in order for that suffering to become almost as acceptable to us as candy is to a baby.

Throughout this collection, a recurring motif relating to sexual struggle is evident. In ‘Sex Hex’ (p.9) we have a deft account of man’s unremitting desire for sexual fulfilment described in almost “biological determinist” terms, yet alluding to the nuances inherent in any discussion of male dominance within a given society, as is suggested by the mention of Foucault:

take her up, stroke her belly
she’ll think of Foucault

The biological controlling impulses of the male driven to physical action is counter-balanced by the cerebral passivity of the female who, by thinking of Foucault, both gives in to the male’s seduction ploy but also demonstrates an intellectuality that is not evident in the male at this particular moment in their relationship.

The problematical relationship between the sexes is further evinced in terms of consciousness in the ‘Madame Psychoses’ section. In ‘Sarah Israel’ (p.33) we see how memory almost reinvents or remodels the past regarding a yearned for “other”:

I saw her in a seeing not seen by any eye,
& the “I” that saw, saw my eye not at all.

Here, identity and perception become entwined as the punning of ‘eye’ with ‘I’ demonstrates. This punning acts as a poetic device to illustrate the very real inextricable union that identity and perception must necessarily have. It is a union so binding that the two become mutually exclusive causing the poet confusion as he struggles to wade his way through something of solipsist maze. In ‘Paula’ (p.37) we see the ultimate expression of male sexual and emotional yearning that represents the lot of Everyman:

chaos, order, clipped bird-like into
wings & cries. I could only ever
think; paula. all the thrusts &
pumps that could never be. "all"
that must be withheld, & that
it might be better that way.

you gave me the gift; savouring
wanting. how it really was you
I wanted. not a body but a soul.
I tell myself I've "been through
you", forever & never. zero here,
same as two. empty.saturated. dark

I have quoted the entire poem. Such is its universality pertaining to male desire any commentary by me would be more than superfluous. Indeed, it would not be outlandish to suggest that in this poem Fieled has articulated more than John Donne allowed himself to in those poems of Donne’s that evince similar concerns.


Steve Halle on Beams (from Fluid/Exchange)
It's something all young poets talk about: how do I promote my work before a collection is published without a steady audience of poetry enthusiasts? Adam Fieled's EP "Virtual Pinball/Madame Psychosis" is as good an answer to this dilemma as I've seen in some time. Building on the success of MiPOesias and its cross publication of print verse with MP3 files of poets reading said work, Fieled's CD-R recording is memorable because the format differs from standard print poetry.

In the same way music lodges itself in one's brain, Fieled's polished and practiced reading style on this EP has the same effect, as lines become ingrained in the one's mind after several in-depth listens. It has stated been by many poets and critics that no one reads a poem better than its author, so here we get a taste of how to read not only Fieled's poetry (and his collaborations with Lars Palm) but also post-avant work in general.

As a devotee of T. S. Eliot, Fieled is highly aware of the objective correlative, and he works with language as objects to craft a specific emotion instead of being trapped by the lyric or narrative impulses of what one may call mainstream poetry. Take for example the poem "debbie jaffe," which can also be found on nth position in print format. The fun thing about "debbie jaffe" and Fieled's recent poetry in general is the poem is completely different when heard on the EP than read online. The reason for the variance is Fieled's use of similar sounding words or word patterns. In "debbie jaffe," we hear "seize her" when we listen to the poem but read "caesar" when we read it online or "urge to pull" becomes "urge, two, pull." These variances stretch the poem's depth beyond either medium.

Another aspect of these homonyms is Fieled's ability to play with the epiphanic "I." Escaping the stranglehold of the epiphanic "I" in contemporary poetics is certainly on Fieled's mind, not only in "debbie jaffe," but also in "eye eye eye," which adds further play as it doubles as a slang expression for exasperation. Fieled's reinvention of narrative allows for sexual tension or frustration in his person poems like "lizzie mclean:"
was all pot roast. hope:
that i can't hold, doll.
for you write, wrong. big.
bold. ass, a nine-volt shite.
"boners were tulips", yes,
butt, i never, have never,
buttered heads, as such,
w/ you. its' all weary
simper. i, conned, take,
your, "can't".

Fieled enhances the tension by using lots of punctuation, which serves to slow the reading of a short piece. The punctuation also gives the poem focus by forcing our attention on single words. This is true as the poem is read or heard as each word's purpose as object is set apart while simultaneously working with the rest of the line.

The "Virtual Pinball/Madame Psychosis" EP is worth a listen. Fieled certainly undertakes important language experiments while working outside of the traditional poetry "box" we have become too accustomed to.