Rainer Werner Fassbinder was born on May 31, which was also the official release date for my poetry collection, Fassbinder: His Movies, My Poems, inspired by the late great German filmmaker earlier this year. Yet I failed to note as much on this blog. And so, a rectification is in order. Much has happened in support of the book since then: a reading (with poet Regie Cabico) at the Bureau of General Services — Queer Division; another reading at the Fassbinder Film Festival at Cinema Arts Centre; an anti-reading at The Tank's Pridefest (where performers read poems selected from a fishbowl of page-numbered ping-pong balls); an essay at Guts Publishing; and a handful of book reviews detailed below:
Jim Piechota for the Bay Area Reporter: "Creative, memorable, and thought-provoking, this poetic salute impressively appreciates the genre-spanning oeuvre of a multi-talented, theatrical German cinematographer."
John Visconti for John V.'s Eclectic Avenue: "The poems collected in Fassbinder; His Films, My Poems, are haunting, heart-rending, and harrowing. They are also funny, touching and soulful."
Charles Rammelkamp for the London Grip: "...both an expression of Pisarra’s themes of personal angst (death is certainly one of these) and a love letter to Ranier Fassbinder."
Julie Carpenter for Sacred Chickens: "...these poems feel deliberate and spontaneous at the same time, everything stripped away, but nothing missing."
The above book cover was designed for Anxiety Press by the publishing house's founder Cody Sexton. Blurbs on the back come courtesy of novelist Monica Drake, poets Regie Cabico and Julie Poole, and composer Gisburg.
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