DATA PRIMER by MARTHE REED

STEVE KLEPETAR Reviews

Data Primer by Marthe Reed

(Moria Books’ Locofo Chaps, Chicago, 2017)

I can only write a very brief review of this brilliant chap, because its very nature precludes discussion of particular “poems,” and makes quoting out of context difficult. Marthe Reed literally fashions poetry from data about climate change, taking the language of a scientific report, “Climate Change 2014 Synthesis Report Summary for Policymakers (IPCC),” and arranging it as lines of poetry in ways that make the words and phrases jagged and emotionally powerful. Here is the summary of the summary:

without

additional

efforts

beyond

those

in place

today

warming

end

21^st century

high

to

very high

risk

severe

wide-spread

irreversible

global

impacts

It’s easy to see the impact – to use a word right from the report – of this highly compressed language arranged to emphasize, emphasize, emphasize every key word and concept. It’s a conclusion gleefully and publicly rejected by climate change deniers like Scott Pruitt, head of the EPA. Reed leaps out of the scientific voice into something much more colloquial and confrontational:

“Science works, bitches”

What more is there to say?

*****

Steve Klepetar’s work has appeared in nine countries, in such journals as Boston Literary Magazine, Deep Water, Antiphon, Red River Review, Snakeskin, Ygdrasil, and many others.  Several of his poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, including four in 2016. He has published 12 collections, the most recent of which include "A Landscape in Hell" (Flutter Press); "Family Reunion" (Big Table Publishing); and "How Fascism Comes to America" (Locofo Chaps).