25 | Thurston Moore and John Kinsella | from The Weave: A Work In Progress

from The Weave: A Work In Progress
Vallum Chapbook Series No. 25
Thurston Moore and John Kinsella

Thurston Moore and John Kinsella present a monumental piece with a rhythmic flow unmatched by most contemporary poetry. A musical energy takes words and propels them into sometimes seemingly illogical sequences, but on closer examination, depicts perfect clarity in its movement, in essence “weaving” into our understanding the terrible cost of human insensitivity to its environment. “Our shrinking / Capacities fooled no one and we grew slightly afraid / On pavement, a haunted look mirroring our desire.” And indeed, this piece is haunting in its statement of society’s preoccupation with nothing meaningful, but with an obsession for things like “killjoy facts,” and basically, destruction. All “Are equally to blame,” and we are left with the question: Is it too late to save ourselves?

“We loosen lips to love the ships from stern to bow,
Taking the treadmill sunset with sealegs and scuba faith.
Who will surface to take the cake, the fallout frosting?
Who will stay up late and watch us fall to sleep?”

Authors’ Bios

John Kinsella’s many books of poetry include Drowning in Wheat: New and Selected Poems, Jam Tree Gully, and the three volumes of Graphology Poems 1995-2015. He has written numerous books of fiction and criticism, edited others, and taught poetry and literature in the USA, UK, and Australia. He has also written for the theatre and has frequently worked in collaboration with other writers, musicians, and visual artists over the last thirty or so years.

Thurston Moore, born 1958, is a writer/musician currently residing in London. Founder of experimental rock group Sonic Youth and publisher/editor of imprints Flowers & Cream and Ecstatic Peace Library. He teaches summer writing workshops at Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado, USA. His most recent group recording was Rock n Roll Consciousness. In 2018 he presented Galaxies, an ensemble piece for twelve 12-string guitars at the Barbican, London, England.