"Barter exchanges history for myth, direct speech for epistles, activity for observation . . . breathtaking." โClaudia RankineFelix the Rat's hind feetcould be Barbie handsโsame pink, sameinjection-molded seaming.โfrom "Electronica"The poems in Barter, Monica Youn's exciting first collection, negotiate transactions between scarcity and excess, pornography and abstraction, the thing and the thing seen. Rende ...Full description
"Barter exchanges history for myth, direct speech for epistles, activity for observation . . . breathtaking." โClaudia RankineFelix the Rat's hind feetcould be Barbie handsโsame pink, sameinjection-molded seaming.โfrom "Electronica"The poems in Barter, Monica Youn's exciting first collection, negotiate transactions between scarcity and excess, pornography and abstraction, the thing and the thing seen. Rendered with a dazzling array of structures and allusions, these poems describeโand becomeโa strange gallery of paintings and portraits. She offers a Polaroid left on a windshield, step-by-step instructions for "Drawing for Absolute Beginners," a stereoscope with a box of slides. Both an homage to and a warning against nonexistent things, Barter introduces a vibrant new voice and a new way of seeing.