CHARM FOR SURVIVORS, SELECTED PAINTED BOOKS & SEQUENCES by JESSE GLASS

EILEEN TABIOS Engages

Charm for Survivors, Selected Painted Books & Sequences by Jesse Glass

(The Knives Forks And Spoons Press, Newton-le-Willows, U.K., 2017)

[Click on all images to enlarge]

“Enter,” sayeth Jesse Glass in Charm for Survivors, Selected Painted Books & Sequences--a book of poetry, yes, but also a monograph-type of memorialization of various exhibits. Specifically, Glass offers

And for the first 19 pages of “Seven Mad Dances,” I am both taken with and taken by the riotous colors of madness. This very first, with its askew pink, reveals Glass to be an excellent colorist—a skill that benefits his works:

Some works do include text and they show him not just to be a visual artist but a poet:

But it’s the next nine images of “Codex III” that make me realize that while I’ve followed Glass’ works through the years, there’s more in this lad than I’d gleaned to date. Here are two examples, the second showing how words and letters for Glass are as much pattern as sources of meaning:

The rest of the book presents other powerful images—indeed, this is the first book where, upon ending my one-sitting first read, I reacted by thinking (and muttering out loud despite being at the local public library), “WTF just happened?!” And so I returned to view/read through the book a second time. The second (and subsequent) readings affirmed my first response of being taken over by a wild (yet disciplined) energy. I believe the all of it is what occurs when “By day you lose your stories / They come back to you in dreams.” Here’s the work from which I lifted that quote:

These works do feel like dreams, though Glass turns them into convincing realities for receptive readers. I’m glad I entered their worlds. Recommended.

*****

Eileen Tabios is the editor of Galatea Resurrects. Her 2017 poetry releases include four books, two booklets and six poetry chaps. Most recently, she released MANHATTAN: An Archaeology (Paloma Press) and Love in a Time of Belligerence (Editions du Cygne/SWAN World). She does not let her books be reviewed by Galatea Resurrects because she's its editor, but she is pleased to point you elsewhere for recent reviews of her work: T.C.. Marshall reviews MANHATTAN for The FilAm Magazine while Joey Madia reviews it for New Mystics Reviews. Her books have been released in nine countries and cyberspace. More info about her work at http://eileenrtabios.com