The newest release from Virgogray is here! “Nude Poetry Garage Sale” by Peter Magliocco is 30 pages of poetic diversity that kinda hinges on its various abstractions of thought and images as it trips into a variety of ideas, some humorously narrative, others absurdly profane. I walked away from this version of “Nude Poetry Garage Sale” thinking Peter Magliocco is nothing short of a mastermind. Even at its opening we see a writer wanting to buck the current with poems seemingly addressing the state of art and editorialship. But I loved the abstraction of images and how sensibly they address the apparent issue as in the poem, ”Illusion of Art:”

Far from the blank page
on your computer screen
where faint radioactive emanations
persistently grope for
all the imprisoned writers of the world
mentally chained to machines
& inherited obsolete concepts
that should remain unwritten,
unthought, undisturbed
the way mirage water puddles
on distant roads are
in the sunlight,
before you race towards them
and they disappear.

This is also present in “The Hunger Artist” where Magliocco writes about “true art” and censoring “literature befouled by commerce & whatnot” drives the point home with a seeming sarcastic, self-defamatory quip: “I’ll cut this poem-pretension up / & add it to the beef stew / which lacks a saving grace / of sorts.” I found “Narrations from the invidious conflux” humourous with its opening schema of the 1959 Psycho film as it weaves itself into topical briefs on Obama, Valerie Solanis and impending earthquake doom–I rather liked that poem. “Something Behind Everything” tapped into the spiritual and profound, another aspect I find appealing when reading poetry. These lines are wonderful,

Please send good tidings
to the prison where now I sleep
dreaming of us reading together
the skywriting of planes
above the ecliptic tilt
clouds shape ivory hills
for the hiding gods.

Wow. And all this in the first five pages! Could it get better? It could. There were other poems I found to be insightful, if not after a double-take and a closer read through, such as: “Bury Her Heart on Highway 61,” “A Casualty of Permissive Sex in Unorthodox Times (which, by the way, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize),” “From the Nude Christ,” and “The Vision Inescapable.” Another poem I found humorous was, “Host,” but only because I jaywalk and never really looked at it as inviting hard-metal death, but that’s why I like reading poetry. Over all, “Nude Poetry Garage Sale” is a hefty helping of verse, a bit thicker than some, with a little bit of imaginative deciphering required. It is the thoughtfulness that is so inviting, though, and is worthy of those desiring an engaging read. Cover art by Justin Jackley. 30 Pages. $10.