Obscenity for the Advancement of Poetry

Pringle (Temper & Felicity Are Lovers) argues that systemic oppression is written onto the body, that people are borne into violence and otherness through language. She asserts that bodies, as Judith Butler notably said, are discursively constructed: “she is tagged at the wrist/ a suitcase on a passenger plane.” Through her experimentation with form, Pringle attempts to engage with and interrogate the use of politically charged speech acts to appropriate agency and identity. Though the illusion of narrative appears in extended prose passages, which are juxtaposed with lyric fragments, readers persistently encounter fragmentation of meaning and fracturing of the power structures that undergird familiar frameworks for creating continuity: “space contained// a subliminal parsing of direct address.” By offering the semblance of pristine clauses, Pringle provocatively undermines the implicit logic of grammar, which she sees as a tendency toward master narrative, and the limitations it places upon thinking. While there is much to admire in Pringle’s concept, the book’s style doesn’t always do justice to her ideas. Much of the language tends toward abstraction: “not the impetus/ not the energy/ made for revolution// will we/ will we/ not/ one word/ has come of the empty/ not-words, purposeful not-words.” As the “not-words” accumulate, readers may find themselves uncertain of the object of Pringle’s social commentary. (Oct.)