Douglas KearneyThe Black Automaton
Fence 2009
ISBN: 9781934200285
80pp.
Reviewed by Micah Ling
As a thing to hold: a gift, an object, an item, this book is attractive. It has the feel of a manual—some collection of diagrams and instructions—for something precious and complicated. Right away, this collection takes hold to teach you a few things—go ahead and be schooled by it. With “Radio,” Kearney reminds, “the first black you met was on the radio. / this is true even if you lived with blacks.” The repetition in this poem makes it sure of itself, and by the end, “the first blacks to change radio’s / meaning from love back to blood are still here // and want to fuck you. They are doing so on the radio / right now. you don’t like it but go to sleep.” Kearney isn’t messing around—he says it true and stark and beautiful.
