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Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Book Review: Ryan Quinn Flanagan. Gangbangs and Other Mass Rallies (Pski’s Porch, 2017) 190 pages


Gangbangs and Other Mass Rallies is prolific Canadian writer Ryan Quinn Flanagan's latest stab at poetry. The book consists of 157 typically short, highly accessible small press poems. The collection is highly varied in subject matter and form and includes childhood anecdotes, personal reflections & opinions, confessional verse, portrait poems, list poems and cryptic “wandering” poems. In the underground tradition, there is undercurrent of violence, of dead-end jobs, of drug taking, of barely tolerable relationships in many of the poems.

Gangbangs is the thirty-eight year old Flanagan’s 24th stand-alone volume. In the interview which follows this review, Flanagan explains his usual intuitive method of putting a book together, “I have never really liked writing from a single unifying theme. That process seems limiting and constricting to me. I have tried it and don't find that process very enjoyable. I much prefer to sit down and write whatever comes to mind over a couple of months, and then look at what I have in its entirety and choose from there. A few loose themes or motifs often appear, but overall, the idea is to just let things flow and see what comes from that; to mine the subconscious and make sure the conscious just gets out of the way as much as possible.”

The cover is designed by Mark Pietrzykowski, the publisher of Pski’s Porch and appears to be of an African-American rally from the Depression era or perhaps earlier. Flanagan says of the cover, “Marc has access to this great mass of New York photo library archives which is fantastic to look through. For the front cover I knew what I wanted and began looking out old rallies in the archives. The images had to work with the title as well as placement of the title. I sent a mock up to Marc, and he had it done and back to me in an hour. It was perfect.”

The title poem itself is cheeky and perhaps an extended metaphor of Flanagan’s “singular purpose” to get the writing done at any personal cost. He says of the poem, “I do tend to like choosing a book title from one of the poem titles and "Gangbangs and Other Mass Rallies" seemed the most catchy.  Besides that, the poem conveyed some of the loose overarching themes I wanted to address such as individual alienation in a mass urban society.”

Gangbangs and Other Mass Rallies

There is nothing wrong
with large numbers
of people
working towards a singular
purpose
unless of course,

you are that singular
purpose.

And you find that-
with arched back
and ass
in the air-
you have
their undivided
attention.

(all poems in this review have been posted with the permission of the poet)

Flanagan writes honestly and urgently and with little revision. He is experienced and confident enough to be ruled by his instincts, “When the poems are written, that is the way they are. I never revise anything beyond simple spelling and grammar issues. I believe that when you write, what came from that day, that specific time and space is specific to that place and not to be polished up or amended later on when you find yourself in a completely different headspace. I don't want to censor anything I may say, so I just go with my first natural instinct and trust that.”

His poem “Distance Runners Miss the Point” appears to sum up Flanagan’s usual take on writing- be simple & direct & use your words economically:

Distance Runners Miss the Point

it is best
to say a lot
with very
little.

Most say little
with very little,
or even worse,
with a lot.

The more words
you need,
the more you have
failed.

Everything
simple and poignant
and direct.

Flanagan says of the poem, “It does sum up my personal view of writing pretty well. I do like to wander at times though, to play with words and images and strange ideas. But in the many quasi-narrative type poems my natural approach seems in keeping with the aesthetic laid out in "Distance Runners Miss the Point." Life is short and we're not here for long, so it's best to say what you mean and get on with things before you're dust and can't anymore. I find such a simplified approach is much more relatable to the reader as well.”

Upon closer examination, Flanagan appears to use two different styles in Gangbangs.  In the solid core of book, the poet uses well-honed conventional underground verse. The best amongst these include “Talking Shop”, “Sporting Goods”, “I Started Thinking of Jesus”, “Hoover”, “Attrition Monger” and “Burial Wrongs”. Alternatively, Flanagan has written about a dozen or so extended cryptic, associative poems which he calls “wandering poems”. The best amongst these is perhaps the five page “Long Lines at the Grocers so Cars can be loaded full as Sniper’s Rifles” but also impressive are poems such as, “Bloodlust & Chicken Wing”, “White Rhino”, “Aggressive Sales Tactics Like Swallowing a Shotgun for Breakfast”, “A Box of 100 Letter Sized File Folders” and “Punctured Lungs & Cryostasis”. The poems are usually set in public places like a bar, mall, park or public library or bathroom. What follows is a series of triggered thoughts and layered associations which jigsaw down the page and collect like a multiple car pile-up.

Flanagan says of this second, more complex style, “The wandering poems as I like to call them are probably the best example of how my brain works. They are non-linear, almost steams of conscious, but not quite. I honestly enjoy writing these types of poems more and more I find. I don't consciously set out to do so, but I find that more of them are appearing in newer works. I have always loved surrealist paintings and Dada and such and the wandering poems allow me to jump around a bit like a frog stretching its legs a little.”

The poem "Beds that are also Couches so the Efficiency Expert can Sleep at Night" illustrates this challenging homegrown style:

Beds that are also Couches
So the Efficiency Expert can Sleep
At Night

The water falls over your hands
like liquid spastics
into a sink basin beaten out
of the general bathroom nightmare
with lead pipes

and someone starts making homemade postcards
and someone else stands in front of mirrors
sucking it in, imaging the clumsy suction
of angled vacuum love

beds that are also couches
so the efficiency expert can sleep
at night

the factory is productivity
in human form,
hands after hands as though cloning
a massage parlour ten million times over
and setting it loose on the fed pablum
of bald-headed parking meters

and the paper towel from the roll
is a child leaving home

my hands sufficiently dry to make purchases
and gang signs in equal measure

the fly done up
and the street walker
as well

coin laundry malcontents
tumbling dry cycle out
of hell

and I have worked enough of the convenience racket
to know there is little convenience
in anything…

Time is wrong.
All the clocks have lied.

Flanagan says of the poem’s style, “It is more a comfortable free association as you go along, not locked in on anything specific, but rather gliding through loose sentiments and never forcing a cohesion. There often is a loose cohesion when you are done, but it is flexible and free and therefore often the most rewarding.”  

Another fascinating aspect I found about the book is although Flanagan is an apolitical writer, he often takes a back-handed swipe at the system through a series of the book’s poems. He is critical of factory closures due to outsourcing (“It came down from the top”), offshore dummy companies (“Dummy Companies, like Incorporating the Mentally Retarded”), the malleability of the law which favours the rich (“Body Condom”), crooked banks (“Usury”), shonky telemarketers (“Exit Strategy”) urban congestion & the pill-popping culture (“City, City”) and an array of other societal targets.

Asked about this anomaly, Flanagan replies, “I am not a political person in the least, so I approach such things in a rather detached way.  I see that things are fucked and the system is rigged, but I tend to avoid specifics and just comment on the overall process because that is what is most universal to all of our daily experiences, as opposed to some very specific griping which seems limiting to me in some way.  Plus, I just don't really care that much about the specific politics in all honesty.  What concerns me is the alienating system as a whole and its effect on everyday life.”

Flanagan’s poems “Party Politics”- his take on how house parties tend to splinter into three groups- “the women in the main room, the men in the kitchen,/ and the peripheries mingling about like spiders by the walls”, and more importantly, the satirical “You could Do Worse than Lawn Furniture”, clearly demonstrate his underlying disdain for all things political:

You Could Do Worse than Lawn Furniture

The thing I like about lawn furniture
is that it never talks politics.

It is goofy and ridiculous beyond belief,
But I know a world of people like that.

And they talk about politics day and night.
It hurts my head in a way the common headache
could only dream of.

And another thing about lawn furniture:
you can sit on its face and it never complains,
sometimes for many hours
until your ass grows
numb.

When people do that to other people,
someone always complains.

Usually someone else, not even directly involved,
who claims that act itself
IS political.

Gangbang and Other Mass Rallies is a clever, solid read full of interesting and diverse poems for the seasoned reader. Flanagan is a committed small press warrior who writes whatever he wants, when he wants and publishes his stuff on his own terms. Flanagan's work continues to evolve and his “wandering poems” in this collection add a new layer of complexity and maturity to his already substantial body of work.

Buy the book here:  http://www.pskisporch.com/?p=606

Bio:  Ryan Quinn Flanagan is a Canadian-born writer who presently resides in Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada with his wife and many bears that rifle through his garbage.  His work can be found both in print and online in such places as: The New York Quarterly, Horror Sleaze Trash, Evergreen Review, Bold Monkey, Outlaw Poetry Network and Your One Phone Call

Some other links: 



INTERVIEW WITH RYAN QUINN FLANAGAN 8 JANUARY 2018

How long was Gangbangs and Other Mass Rallies in the making, including the writing and publication processes? How was Pski’s Porch to work with?

 About ten months in its entirety.  After the MS was written I sent off a sample to Marc Pietrzykowski at Pski's Porch.  I wanted to work with Pski's Porch because I really dug the work of previous authors under the Pski's Porch banner, namely Catfish McDaris and Steven Storrie.

When Marc got back to me, I built the full MS and did a quick spelling/grammar edit before shooting it off.  After that, the process was seamless.  Marc was totally top shelf and it was honestly the best experience I've ever had working with a publisher.  I wish it always went that smoothly when doing a book.  Pski's Porch is first-rate professional all the way!

You often nominate a title for your books from a poem in the collection. Why was Gangbangs and Other Mass Rallies chosen besides its catchy name?

I do tend to like choosing a book title from one of the poem titles and "Gangbangs and Other Mass Rallies" seemed the most catchy.  Besides that, the poem conveyed some of the loose overarching themes I wanted to address such as individual alienation in a mass urban society.  The only other poem title that was considered was "Feeding the Machine" because it both implied and dealt with the same issue, but that poem was more personal so we went with the more universal one to make things as relatable as possible to the reader. 

I note that Pski’s Porch designed the cover. Where was the photo taken from?

Marc has access to this great mass of New York photo library archives which is fantastic to look through.  For the front cover I knew want I wanted and began looking out old rallies in the archives.  The images had to work with the title as well as placement of the title. I sent a mock up to Marc, and he had it done and back to me in an hour.  It was perfect. Marc came up with the image on the back cover trying to capture the carnivalesque nature of the poems.  He explained that the image came from an old ritual which perfectly represented what I was trying to express. I really love that image on the back cover!



In some of your previous collections you don’t appear to have a dominant unifying thematic concern but rather structure the work through motifs. Is this the case of Gangbangs? Do you usually just write a shitload of poems and then offload them in book form?

I have never really liked writing from a single unifying theme. That process seems limiting and constricting to me.  I have tried it and don't find that process very enjoyable. I much prefer to sit down and write whatever comes to mind over a couple of months, and then look at what I have in its entirety and choose from there. A few loose themes or motifs often appear, but overall, the idea is to just let things flow and see what comes from that; to mine the subconscious and make sure the conscious just gets out of the way as much as possible.

When the poems are written, that is the way they are. I never revise anything beyond simple spelling and grammar issues. I believe that when you write, what came from that day, that specific time and space is specific to that place and not to be polished up or amended later on when you find yourself in a completely different headspace. I don't want to censor anything I may say, so I just go with my first natural instinct and trust that.

Does your poem “Distance Runners Miss the Point” sum up your view of writing?

It does sum up my personal view of writing pretty well. I do like to wander at times though, to play with words and images and strange ideas.  But in the many quasi-narrative type poems my natural approach seems in keeping with the aesthetic laid out in "Distance Runners Miss the Point." Life is short and we're not here for long, so it's best to say what you mean and get on with things before you're dust and can't anymore. I find such a simplified approach is much more relatable to the reader as well.

Your poetry is typically apolitical but in the collection you touch on how the system is rigged- the banks, the law, the news, how the economy & the environment are fucked, but you offer nothing specific, your criticisms are more of a hunch than a stance. Do the poems, such as, “You Could Do Worse than Lawn Furniture” and “Party Politics” best represent your views on political writing?

They do. I am not a political person in the least, so I approach such things in a rather detached way. I see that things are fucked and the system is rigged, but I tend to avoid specifics and just comment on the overall process because that is what is most universal to all of our daily experiences, as opposed to some very specific griping which seems limiting to me in some way. Plus, I just don't really care that much about the specific politics in all honesty.  What concerns me is the alienating system as a whole and its effect on everyday life. I've never voted in my life because I figure if a game is rigged don't play it. It's the same reason I never gamble when my wife and I go to Vegas. The house wins at your expense. I understand the set-up and choose not to partake. Many of my poems have no overtly political bent simply because other things seem to interest me more. 

Although some of your poems are set in Canada and you make numerous Canuck references, the poems are more about universal rather than Canadian concerns. (The tongue in cheek “Je me souviens” is perhaps an exception). Is this an accurate assessment of your writing?

I write in Canada, but do not consider myself a Canadian writer. Again, I find the geographical title limiting. I prefer to write in a more universal vein, whatever comes to mind, and not have it limited or constricted by such things as sex, religion, country, politics etc. Je me souviens is a playful exception.  The title comes from the official provincial motto of Quebec which translates to: I remember. I found that a simple and playful way to write a poem about when I was younger. It's a true story as well, which I always prefer.

Ryan, you appear to have two distinct styles of writing in Gangbangs. One is essentially confessional- usually first person narrative poems. Poems such as, “Hoover”, “Dykes on Bikes” and “Milking Your Prostate Is Not Like Milking a Cow” are easy to follow and somewhat simplistic, although they are often original in subject matter.

In other poems, perhaps a dozen or so, are more complex and often work through association and more intricate word play. I’m thinking of poems “Bloodlust & Chicken Wing”, “White Rhino”, “Aggressive Sales Tactics Like Swallowing a Shotgun for Breakfast”, “Punctured Lungs & Cryostasis”, “Long Lines at the Grocers so Cars can be Loaded full as Sniper’s Rifles” and the like.
I was just wondering how you developed this style and what you are doing, by say, taking us through the poem “Beds that are also Couches so the Efficiency Expert can Sleep at Night” (or any other you wish) by way of example?

I have found this as well. The more matter of fact confessional type poems are much more straight forward, and often the backbone of the book. The other intricate word play or wandering poems as I like to call them are probably the best example of how my brain works. They are non-linear, almost steams of conscious, but not quite. I honestly enjoy writing these types of poems more and more I find. I don't consciously set out to do so, but I find that more of them are appearing in newer works. I have always loved surrealist paintings and Dada and such and the wandering poems allow me to jump around a bit like a frog stretching its legs a little. "Beds that are also Couches so the Efficiency Expert can Sleep at Night" is a perfect example of this.  It is more a comfortable free association as you go along, not locked in on anything specific, but rather gliding through loose sentiments and never forcing a cohesion. There often is a loose cohesion when you are done, but it is flexible and free and therefore often the most rewarding.  

Have you come across any new writers over the last year who you have immensely enjoyed?

Oh plenty! Many of them seem to be centred around the Kansas City area for whatever reason. Other I have read though presses I like such as Pski's Porch. As well as a few Aussies in your neck of the woods like Brenton Booth and Ben John Smith.There are many cool writers out there today doing their thing.

What’s next on your plate?

It should be a busy upcoming year.  I have a chapbook coming out with Alien Buddha Press in April called "Hello Brinkmanship," and another with Clare Songbirds out of New York called "these things you see." There is also full-length collections forthcoming with Weasel Press, Leaf Garden Press, Marathon Books, and White Gorilla Press. I'm also slated to do broadsides and a split chap with John D. Robinson who is a very cool writer. And hopefully working on something again soon with Pski's Porch!

Thanks George!!


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