These Are the Gloria Stories

Loe's hip, energetic, and bodily debut is a frenetic trip through the messy, the psychosexual, and our almost-ordinary internal and external worlds. Inhabited by a singular but splitting voice, these worlds collide, ebb, and fight through four series of prose fragments where "Biochemically, I am more alive/ than you// and when/ the kitchen light cuts// out I become/ more to you// I mean I can candle." What these series lack in traditional sense, they exploit with energy, association, and colloquial smarts ("if you TRY TO SLOW me DOWN i will FRACTURE your comprehension of CHILL/ though I don't want to.") As it moves from mundane humor ("I just found your ring in the shower./ The water's back?") to the weird ("I put my best boob forward./ I could go for a breast blitz.") to the aggressive ("you/ will taste/ the wheel// with your throat."), the work remains full of surprises. Yet readers will also catch glimpses of the familiar: "i keep opening the internet like there is food in there." Loe's willingness to push the limits results in a strange pleasure that never overwhelms, thanks to the consistency of her deliriousness and to the work's simple and elegant form. (Sept.)