Joshua Marie Wilkinson, “Noise in the Shape of Its City”

Now I am ready
to move gently
at the speed
of the birds
towards your speed.

The Book of Whispering in the Projection Booth is the fourth book of poems by Joshua Marie Wilkinson. It also includes “The Book of the Umbrella” (extracts published in La Petite Zine) and “The Book of Falling Asleep in the Bathtub and Snow” (Coconut Poetry). You’ll also want to read “A Brief History of Lying” (Jubilat) and “A Brief History of Spying” (Boston Review).

This poem is actually an anomaly in Whispering for its brevity; the book tends towards more prose-like pieces or longer poems. In an interview with 12 or 20 Questions, Wilkinson explained his writing process: “A poem usually begins as prose writing, and I accumulate a lot of it, then I mine it for something that has a certain spark. I throw away heaps of what issues forth. But I type up what seems to pass some test and then I arrange it, sometimes into discreet poems, but usually into longer sections, passages, parts, or longer poems.” (And here’s another interview that focuses more directly on Whispering.)

By the way, if you’re in Iowa City or San Francisco, you can go to a Wilkinson reading this week; see his website for details (March 3 and 5, respectively).

1 March 2010 | poetry |