Cotton Xenomorph\u2019s \u201cCryptids and Climate Change\u201d issue continues, with so much good stuff this month. Check out \u201cJudas Elk,\u201d a pretty wild poem from Adrianna Gordey<\/a>. <\/em><\/p> We\u2019re firmly in a post-rock world. That\u2019s been true for as long as I\u2019ve been sentient. That doesn\u2019t mean guitar bands are dead, or even that rock is dead. It means that guitar music is open to more possibilities. I don\u2019t know enough about the history of the genre to know if there\u2019s something distinctly Asian about math rock\u2014the genre certainly isn\u2019t limited to Asian musicians\u2014but if you look in Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong? You\u2019ll find some kickass guitarists, twinkling away with clean tone and weird time signatures. <\/p> But first, some real good books!<\/p> What I\u2019ve Been Reading This Week: <\/strong><\/p> Two books that, when you\u2019re reading them, don\u2019t feel overwhelming in their sadness. Which is good, because there is plenty of sadness to go around. There\u2019s a kind of tough tenderness here, both books shot through with beauty and love even as bad things happen. I\u2019m talking, of course, about Hard Skin<\/em> by Melissa Llanes Brownlee and Night Sky With Exit Wounds<\/em> by Ocean Vuong. <\/p> Hard Skin <\/strong><\/em>by Melissa Llanes Brownlee: <\/strong>being honest, I am not generally a fan of fiction from children\u2019s perspectives. For every Stranger Things<\/em> or The Tin Drum<\/em> there\u2019s the thousands of clich\u00e9d ~~~smol bean innocence lost~~~ stories we rejected from the undergrad lit mag. It\u2019s thrilling, then, to report that Melissa\u2019s collection of short stories rocks<\/em> and is a delight to read. Melissa was one of the first writers we published when I started at <\/a>Cotton Xenomorph<\/a><\/em>, and she\u2019s a flash fiction writer I truly look forward to having new stuff come out<\/a>. I would argue she\u2019s even grown as a writer since this book was published, but that doesn\u2019t mean this book isn\u2019t a banger. <\/p> These stories are, as I said, mostly from the perspective of young people, and there\u2019s a real struggle to understand a world that often doesn\u2019t make sense. Why do people want to exploit land? Why do people feel anything but joy and reverence at nature? Why do parents beat their kids? Why do we make offerings to Pele every year if we also go to church every Sunday? The language reflects\u2014lyrical, careful, not a wasted word\u2014reflects the dissonance of Hawaii\u2019s status as its own place and own people but also belonging to the United States. It also reminds me a touch of Their Eyes Were Watching God<\/em>, perhaps obviously because there is heavy dialect writing, but on a deeper level, there\u2019s a sense that this particular snapshot of Hawaiian life\/hybrid language needs to be recorded before it disappears. I felt grateful reading this book, in the \u201cbooks can transport you someplace else\u201d kind of sense. <\/p> Night Sky With Exit Wounds<\/strong><\/em> by Ocean Vuong: <\/strong>is this the first time I\u2019ve re-read a book already talked about on this blog<\/a>? Blog\u2019s only 19 months old. That said, I read this book very early, before I decided \u201chey maybe I should just talk about a new book every week,\u201d and I feel like my reading comprehension is better? For whatever reason, I have read this book before, but I don\u2019t feel<\/em> like it, even if some poems were familiar to me. <\/p> How glad I am to revisit this! I feel like I am the latest possible person to Ocean Vuong, everyone\u2019s already read all of his books and has opinions. Bob\u2019s read him on The Line Break <\/em>and I thought I had, but that was the homie Lyd Havens<\/a>. These poems are lyrical, vulnerable, wounded<\/em>, yet very much in touch with what\u2019s beautiful in the world. There\u2019s self-doubt and the injustices of war and fathers and future sons and mothers and rivers and wounds, all wrapped up in really good poetry. I\u2019ll check out his other stuff soon, this is a great first book. <\/p> LINKS!<\/strong><\/p> It would be silly to give you something to listen to while you browse these links of things to listen to. Instead, here is an octopus:<\/p> Longtime readers probably know Covet, I talk about Covet a lot. Frontwoman\/lead guitarist\/songwriter Yvette Young is also a trained classical pianist, which you can totally tell if you listen to early Covet. Recently, she composed a three-part (she doesn\u2019t say \u2018three-movement,\u2019 I think you could) piece for guitar and a 19-piece string orchestra. Combining electric guitars with classical instruments is a schtick I was super into in high school and am less so now (it is possible to overdose on Trans-Siberian Orchestra, kids), but<\/em> Yvette\u2019s composition is really great. The third movement is my favorite. <\/p>![\"Night](\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/44c3e0db-ff1b-48b4-ae23-ce35201c5de3.heic\")
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