Many of Gerstler’s poems have a dramatic edge to them, as if Browning were leaning in on that planchette too, whispering in her ear. She is half a novelist and the book is filled with stories told as vignettes, end rhymes, enjambments. Ghost Girl reflects the way metaphors of poetry and of femininity are deeply embedded into popular discourses of spirituality.
And the implications are staggering. I love the way Gerstler hints that the practice of poetry is now being delimited by “professionalism” among poets what with the rise of MFA programs and the increasing competition among poets for a handful of positions “teaching poetry”… — Kevin Killian on Amy Gerstler, 2004*
Dodie Bellamy, Semiotext(e), 2220 Arts + Archives, Small Press Traffic, and Giorno Poetry Systems have organized a series of events launching Kevin Killian’s highly anticipated collection Selected Amazon Reviews. “They’re reviews of a sort,” said Killian in 2019, “but they also seem like novels. They’re poems. They’re essays about life. I get a lot of my kinks out there, on Amazon.”
In Los Angeles, Bellamy will join Hedi El Kholti and Robert Dewhurst in conversation. Entries from the book will be read by Constance Debré, Luka Fisher, Miranda July, Andrew Maxwell, Ariana Reines, Sheree Rose, Brian Kim Stefans, Michelle Tea, Colm Tóibín, John Tottenham, and Matias Viegener.
In San Francisco, Bellamy and El Kholti welcome David Buuck, Marcus Ewert, Kota Ezawa, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Randall Mann, and London Pinkney for readings.
The following week in New York, Bellamy will be in conversation with Wayne Koestenbaum, followed by readings by Lee Ann Brown, Lonely Christopher, Dia Felix, Kay Gabriel, Stephen Ira, Journey Streams, and Lynne Tillman.
See info and links below.
KEVIN KILLIAN —SELECTED AMAZON REVIEWS BOOK LAUNCH
Wednesday, December 4, at 8 pm
2220 Arts + Archives
2220 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles
dice.fm/book-launch-kevin-killian
Friday, December 6, at 7:30 pm
Et al.
2831A Mission Street, San Francisco
smallpresstraffic.org/kevin-killian
Thursday, December 12, at 7 pm
Giorno Poetry Systems
222 Bowery, New York City
giornopoetrysystems.org/222-bowery/dodie-bellamy
See: Lonely Christopher, “Kevin Killian: I Can Explain Everything,” Evergreen Review.
evergreenreview.com/kevin-killian-i-can-explain-everything
*Kevin Killian, “Ghost Girl, by Amy Gerstler: The Words Flower from Her Mouth,” October 1, 2004 (five stars), in Selected Amazon Reviews (South Pasadena, CA: Semiotext(e), 2024). Copyright © 2024 the Estate of Kevin Killian. Additional Killian quote courtesy of Semiotext(e).
semiotexte.com/selected-amazon-reviews
mitpress.mit.edu/selected-amazon-reviews/
From top: Kevin Killian at Jim’s, Mission Street, San Francisco, 2012, photo © Steven Seidenberg; Kevin Killian, Selected Amazon Reviews, Semiotext(e), 2024, cover design by Hedi El Kholti, courtesy and © the publisher; Dodie Bellamy and Kevin Killian, 2003, photo © Daniel Nicoletta.
