Case Sensitive (06 Edition)

Poetry. Greenstreet's highly original CASE SENSITIVE posits a female central character who writes chapbooks that become the sections in this book. "What happens in the book I want to read?" Greenstreet asked herself. "And how would it sound?" Everything the character is reading, remembering, and dreaming turns up in what she writes, duly referenced with notes. Using natural language charged with concision and precise syntax, Greenstreet has created a memorable and lasting first collection. "A poem intrigue of the highest order. Greenstreet has made a brilliant beginning with this first book"--Kathleen Fraser. "A beautiful dwelling of ideas. CASE SENSITIVE suggests that there need be no divide between the associative connections of poetry and the extended thinking of the essay. This is a book full of luminous footnotes, details, and attentive readings. CASE SENSITIVE strings together a series of moments to create something resonate, large, and inclusive"--Juliana Spahr.

"Greenstreet's quirky, sometimes vague debut feels less like one book than like a collection of five chapbooks, each with its own set of obsessions and themes, held together by an aesthetic consciousness that prizes immediacy, sincerity and open space. Part one, 'Great Women of Science,' considers the appeal of independence and the contrary draw of nostalgia, for a woman setting out on her own. '[SALT]' treats its titular mineral's properties (e.g., '[on icy streets makes winter travel safe]') as jumping-off points for questions about human nature: 'Can you shut the eye with something in it and continue?' The passionate 'Book of Love' and its sometime sequel 'Where's the Body?' read like scrambled excerpts from smart diaries mixed with bits of murder mystery: 'Why are we ashamed when someone hurts us?'; 'The trouble comes from keeping a secret.' Each of these four named segments reaches toward, and does not quite select, its own governing metaphor for the fluidity of the poet's inner life. The fifth segment, 'Diplomacy,' becomes both a fragmentary whodunit and a meditation on the poet's house, as if to ask where the self really resides. If this debut hints too much and reveals too little, it also marks Greenstreet as a poet to watch. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

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Kate Greenstreet can be found at kickingwind.com.