cover image THE EMILY XYZ SONGBOOK: Poems for 2 Voices

THE EMILY XYZ SONGBOOK: Poems for 2 Voices

Emily XYZ, . . Rattapallax, $13 (80pp) ISBN 978-1-892494-64-1

Present at the creation of performance poetry, Emily XYZ acquired a cult following with her live gigs, punk stylings and recordings for indie-rock labels through the '80s and '90s, lighting up the stage at the now-famed Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Despite her relative prominence (including appearances on television and in high-profile anthologies), XYZ has produced no previous book: she may have felt, and her fans might have agreed, that her performance style, vocal delivery and musical accompaniment contribute as much to her work as the words themselves. This breakthrough volume collects 13 of XYZ's texts, each scored for two simultaneous speakers, along with notes on their composition and performance. "I think of them more as something to be heard than read," XYZ writes in her introduction, and indeed the texts can fall flat on the page; they are saved, though, by the wonderful accompanying CD, in which XYZ's own readings—along with Virgil Moorefield's compulsively catchy electronic musical settings—demonstrate her real powers for all to hear. Several works rely on insistently repeated phrases, reducing the voice almost to a percussion instrument; others imply a traumatic early life or promulgate an inspiring, sometimes sarcastic feminist politics. (Jan.)