Pablo D'StairRezensionen

I hate giving up on books, but I had to stop reading this one. It never grabbed my interest, and I just couldn't get past the first few chapters. With so many good books out there, I don't want to waste my time trying to get through this one.

“you don’t exist” is a collection of two stories, novelletes in length. The stories are by two different authors, but both start with the same premise, one which has been a staple of pulp fiction for decades: a guy going about his daily life stumbles upon a box, briefcase, suitcase, duffel bag, etc. full of cash that doesn’t exactly belong to him and, all of a sudden, he is a man on the run from various hoods who want their money back.

“bleed the ghost empty” by D’Stair is a poetic, dark piece about a guy who is out of his mind from either insanity or too many substances. This guy is lost up in the mountains somewhere and can’t seem to put one foot in front of the other without focusing on all of the consequences of getting caught doing it. What happens when he finds a bag of money and tries to get away with it. Armies of paranoia just keep attacking him. The whole story is rather bizarre and twisted and it is never clear how much of it is imagined and what is real and what is just paranoia.

“Pessimist” by Chris Rhatigan is similarly about a guy who stumbles on a bag of money and seems to go insane with paranoia, not knowing what to do with it or where to go or who is after him. His senses too are numbed by what he is involved in and he doesn’t know how to function. It only seems a bit light in comparison to D’Stair’s story, but both stories are dark and twisted and you can feel the protagonists in the stories sinking deeper and deeper into a quagmire of paranoia, doubt, and fear.

My first impression of Pablo D'Stair's poetry came from a poem in his folio series, "an old song for wrong women." I have read through it once so far, and to be honest, it went right over my head. I'm not necessarily saying that it was a bad poem; it just might not have been the poem for me.
After the folio poem, I downloaded a copy of "The Choice of Dogs and Other Poems," because I wanted to check out more of the poet's work. I can't judge someone on only one poem. My reaction to reading these poems was the complete opposite of my reaction toward "an old song."
At first, I saw D'Stair's lack of punctuation to be an obstacle when reading. In my way of reading, punctuation is a way to pause for breath, emphasize, and to traditionally make a thought complete. With the lack of a period anywhere in the work (if there were a few, I missed them), the poems were given a bit of life. Lines and stanzas weren't confined to a rigid way of being read. There are different ways to read each poems and each way brings on a different experience.
A problem that I had found getting in my way while reading "an old song" was repetition of words or phrases. Often in poems that have immediate repetition, it turns me off because, even though an emphasis may be what the poet wants out of that phrase, my attention span can't handle reading the same thing over and over again. There was repetition written throughout this collection, but it worked with the poems beautifully. Not once did it seem to get in the way.
I found there to be a beautiful flow throughout all the poems that couldn't be overlooked. This flow is a contributing factor to why the repetition didn't bother me this time around. It worked its way nicely in the overall flow, making a music that compelled me to read on.
There were a few lines as well that I wish I took the time to write down so I could quote them in this review. I'll just have to go back and reread this collection again. I will enjoy every minute of doing so.
I look forward to reading more poetry from Pablo D'Stair when the next installments of the folio series come in, as well as read some of his prose writings.

I received this third installment edition of the folio series in the mail today along with the second, a guest poet [a:Sarah D'Stair|4593780|Sarah D'Stair|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg].

I read through this poem in no time at all. In the various sections of this poem there were variations of short sets of lines and others that went down the page a bit more. It was refreshing to not read a poem with almost uniformity in it's sections. One example is the first section. It's short and reads "you blink your eyes/ and I understand the backs of animals" It's just two lines. I'm not exactly sure what it means, but there is beauty a beauty to the words.

As with much of D'Stair's poetry there is a number of images throughout this poems entirety. It's difficult to place some of the images, but the creativity and the way different words work to create them are unique to me. I would like to take some more time to make a bit more sense out of everything being said.

I'll close this short review with a few beautiful lines that starts off section VI. "it's not night enough for moonlight/ not tread enough for stair/ it's not coiled enough for corkscrew/ not bone enough for bled"

I received this poem late last week and finally found the time to get around to reading it today. I felt like doing a review on my first impression of the poem before a secondary, and I'm sure tertiary reading. From the beginning I was turned away by the use of repetition. It's a turn off for me with poetry; I'm learning to be able to work past it. As this was my first read I stumbled a bit. Upon reading "II" I felt a little better. Pablo's lack of punctuation throughout the entire poem can be a bit tricky, but it works well in this section. The flow from one line straight into the next, while not fully taking in what was being said, hooked me. There is beautiful imagery scattered throughout the poem as well. In any case, for now I can't give this poem more than 3 stars, solely because it will take me, personally, a few reads to fully comprehend the piece. Overall, as it is obvious, I didn't want to stop reading or throw this book away. That is a good sign. While I am a poet, I still have trouble reading some poetry. Some of the style is out of my comfort zone, but I feel that more enjoyment will come from this piece soon enough. I look forward to reading more from Pablo's BlankVerseDead folio series.


This book was received through a Good Reads giveaway.

This is the 5th installment of Pablo D'Stair's BlankVerseDead folio series. I haven't been very fond of the past poems (this excludes #2, by his wife Sarah D'Stair.) I haven't disliked the poetry, as much as, there seems to either much more to the poems than I have been able to decipher or not anything in the poems to get in the first place. Either way there are no rules to poetry saying there has to be anything being said in the first place, and if that's the case I applaud Pablo for taking that initiative and making people frustrated to get some meaning from the words.
While past poems don't have much affect over my reading of this poem, mainly due to my attempt not to let them influence this poem, I can't help but notice a difference in this one. While it follows the same inclusion of many abstracts as the past installments, there are a good amount more concrete images to ground the reader in some understanding of what's being said. This is what appeals to me in poetry in general; concrete images. I'm not one to get many abstract lines unless someone lets me have a hint as to where to go with it.
I don't feel like going too much in depth into the poetry here. I do suggest that any poetry lover look into Pablo's work. If not to get some poetry for yourself, than just to bring out something that I may have overlooked (haha, I don't normally "haha" in a review, but it felt right.)

I would like to leave this off with my favorite line, which is found in the first lines of section II:
"the part of you I love the most's the last
letter of your name"

It's just simple, may have more meaning that I put on it, but touches me on a personal note that I don't need to get into in a review for a poem that's not mine. I do look forward to continued reading of D'Stair's work no matter how much I get out of it or don't get.

I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway, and find myself agreeing on all points with this review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/241875705 -- not sure where the writer was coming from on some angles, but enjoyed some of the language. An intriguing poem.

Would-be writer discovers that someone is breaking into his apartment and leaving pages on his typewriter. And they are better written than his own work! This is a book where a lot of things happen, but nothing is going on. Or vice-versa, whichever you prefer. I can see what D'Stair is trying to do with his abrupt ending, but it just doesn't work, making the whole story, despite the interesting premise, pretty pointless. D'Stair doesn't even give us any samples of the narrator's or the mysterious intruder's writing, which could have significantly deepened this story. My opinion is that he just wasn't up to it and perhaps in a strange way this book is autobiographical.½

Disturbing, graphic, disturbing (yes I know I already said it) brilliant, not everyone's cup of tea. This book is definitely not for everyone, I'm still not sure if it was for me, but if you're curiosity is up then give it a try. Won this from Goodreads.

This first of five novellas about petty crook Trevor English was one of the worst works of literature I have ever read. Not only is the entire thing lacking any kind of sentence or chapter structure, the grammar is painful to read through.

One reason many people enjoy books is the characters and how the author presents them and their personal growth and how much the reader can connect and enjoy the character. This Letter to Norman Court, however, had absolutely no likable characters. Trevor English is a pickpocket living life on the outskirts of society and barely getting by crashing on couches and lifting wallets. When he is offered two thousand dollars to deliver an incriminating letter, he takes advantage of the situation to make even more money by ruining lives of everyone involved in the letter. When his scheme begins crumbling around him, I found myself hoping and praying the cops would get him, because a person like that, even a fictitious one, deserves nothing less. Not only is the main protagonist is a miserable low-life, all the people he meets along his journeys have some hidden agenda or secret to hide.

Although pretty short, it was difficult for me to read through this mind-numbingly ridiculous novella. I give "This Letter to Norman Court" one of five stars, merely for the author's brave attempt at writing something another person may want to read. But that person is not me.

This book is short, only 151 pages, but not what I would call a "quick read". D'Stair's words are meant to be lingered over, savored like a rich dessert.

Kaspar, the main character, has committed a murder. The story begins when Kaspar is approached by an unknown man who says that he plans to report Kaspar's crime in 3 days. As time passes, we follow Kaspar's descent into madness, as this stranger torments him without every really saying much of anything at all.

As is D'Stair's style, there are questions behind certain behaviors that will never be answered. These are left alone for the reader to contemplate. D'Stair writes in the first person, giving his character a voice that sucks you right into the madness.