IKMQ - Softcover

Farr, Roger

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1554200644 ISBN 13: 9781554200641

Publisher: New Star Books, 2012

Synopsis

Poetry. Roger Farr's IKMQ consists of sixty-four brief passages—stories, descrptions, instructions, scenarios, formulae—each involving the characters represented by the letters I, K, M and Q. Various clues, suggested by the rules of grammar and syntax, hint at connections and continuities, and at narrative peaking out from behind the screen of action.

But never mind the theory—enjoy the ride, as I, K, M and Q convert houses to commercial grow-ops, manufacture explosives, go all in on the flop, get up early to catch chinook, plan, build and sell subdivisions, conduct meetings according to Roberts, plot a prison break, score an all-important goal, get the door for the pizza delivery boy, and get on with transforming the world through their revolutionary action.

About this title

About the Author

Roger Farr teaches literature at Capilano University in North Vancouver. He is the editor of CUE Books, and the author of IKMQ, Surplus, and the forthcoming Means. He lives on Gabriola Island, BC.

Review

I really like IKMQ. I think it's hilarious, probing, and unique in how it deploys the often-tired Wittgensteinian tenets of language-as-game and meaning-as-use. In fact, I think IKMQ should be handed out to poets who are considering reading or mentioning Wittgenstein as a kind of contraceptive device because whether Farr intended this or not (and I'd be interested to know, one way or the other), his poems do what Wittgenstein never quite managed: they look at things independently of us. --Colin Fulton, Lemon Hound

About this edition

• Publisher: New Star Books
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1554200644
• ISBN 13: 9781554200641
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 80