The Under Review - Issue 4 | Summer 2021

More documents

Recommendations

Info

68looking down at us,watching,as Doc continues his flightover the baseline,his arm extended in the midst of its cycloneBe Holding, from its first word to its final unpunctuated pause enacts the poetic practice of Witness. Gayhas taken up Nikky Finney's directive to “Be camera, black-eyed aperture” (from her poem “InstructionFinal: To Brown Poets from Black Girl with Silver Leica.” If you are planning on reading Be Holding, Istrongly recommend you read Gay’s essay “Be Camera, Black Eyed Aperture” published in the SewaneeReview. In the essay, Gay expertly elucidates the power and practice of Finney’s work, her witnessing; andwe can clearly see how Finney is one of the many writers Gay is indebted too. Gay takes Finney’s exampleand from it, builds his manual of flight and then embodies and enacts it in Be Holding.Be Holding argues, through its careful, meticulous witnessing of Dr. J's aerial genius, that this iconic play isa moment of the un-witnessable just as much as the mass suicide that inspired the legend of the flyingIgbo. Gay seems to argue that without this constant attending and re-attending we can’t actually knowhow to witness Dr. J's inventive brilliance. And if we don't know how to witness one of the most famousshots in basketball history, what else don't we know how to witness? Gay believes the way that we witnessthe world can make the world and Be Holding is something of a guiding text for our practice of witnessing. One of my favorite moments in the poem is one of self-reflection where Gay's speaker has to pause andask themself what’s being practiced: one boy laying on his side with a small stack of schoolbooks wedgedbeneath his close-shorn head, the algebraic equations tumblingA few lines later the description comes to its reflective head:and do you know while composing this I almost dreamed some doom upon that child dozing beautifully in my poemdreaming now above the flying—what am I looking at what am I practicing The titular poem of Ross Gay’s third poetry collection, Unabashed Gratitude includes these words: no duh child in my dreams, what do you thinkTHE UNDER REVIEW
69this singing and shuddering is, what this screaming and reaching and dancingand crying is, other than lovingwhat every second goes away?In Be Holding, Ross Gay is once again saying, the tender, careful practice of reaching out towards oneanother, “the reaching that makes of falling flight” despite the messy wreck of human experience, mightvery well be everything!ISSUE 4 | SUMMER 2021
Page 1:
ISSUE 4SUMMER 2021
Page 4 and 5:
TABLE OF CONTENTSPOETRYA Fable Abou
Page 6 and 7:
6LETTER FROM THE EDITORSMuscle Memo
Page 8 and 9:
8 SHAPIROdad’s jaundice complexio
Page 10 and 11:
10adjust to new requirements. More
Page 12 and 13:
12Learning to DunkCHRIS ABBATEI gua
Page 14 and 15:
14Take OneERIN HILLA spindly-legged
Page 16 and 17:
16even if it didn’t square with t
Page 18 and 19: 18Church SoftballRYAN HARPERThose n
Page 20 and 21: 20Eye of the StormBRETT BIEBELThis
Page 22 and 23: 22A Real HumdingerKEITH BUZZARD “
Page 24 and 25: 24“Not sure how good an idea that
Page 26 and 27: 26 BUZZARD“Well, Paul, I don’t
Page 28 and 29: 28DavidANDREW GENTMichelangelo’s
Page 30 and 31: 30Bring on the boos, Ryan thought a
Page 32 and 33: 32“Christ, next time we gotta mak
Page 34 and 35: 34“Actually, it’s more like one
Page 36 and 37: 36 ERWINThe umpire started back for
Page 38 and 39: 38My serve. I was pretty good at it
Page 40 and 41: 40I remembered this incident just b
Page 42 and 43: 42At Logan Avenue, I turned left, h
Page 44 and 45: 44 BELDENMy mother glanced over and
Page 46 and 47: 46 ELPHICKbeen in a real fight in a
Page 48 and 49: 48Interview with Maya WashingtonTER
Page 50 and 51: 50TH: You mention in the beginning
Page 52 and 53: 52performance poet, who is performi
Page 54 and 55: 54known stories in college football
Page 56 and 57: 56Racing DadKIMBERLY J. BROWNI tell
Page 58 and 59: 58 TAYLORDetroit Tigers World Serie
Page 60 and 61: 60When I was planning my trip, I br
Page 62 and 63: 62The RunnerMORROW DOWDLESleep’s
Page 64 and 65: 64Bonus DaysAMY ZARANEKIn basketbal
Page 66 and 67: 66Book ReviewJALEN EUTSEYBe Holding
Page 70 and 71: 70 CONTRIBUTOR NOTESCONTRIBUTOR NOT
Page 72 and 73: 72 CONTRIBUTOR NOTESALEX WELLS SHAP
show all

The Under Review - Issue 4 | Summer 2021

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?