What I\u2019ve Been Reading This Week: <\/strong><\/p> Two books! A marvelous collection of poetry and a fun novel(la?)\u2014and one of them I read on my computer<\/em>. Who said I was an old man? My Adobe subscription is lapsed, tho, and I didn\u2019t feel like bugging Mal to use her computer for Canva, so I took the picture of these books like an old man. Don\u2019t let me doing a bit distract you from the fact that both of these books put me in such a good reading mood that I started next week\u2019s book as soon as I put them down. I\u2019m talking, of course, about Cloud Missives<\/em> by Kenzie Allen and Werewolf Lawyer<\/em> by Shea Serrano. <\/p> Cloud Missives<\/strong><\/em> by Kenzie Allen: <\/strong>WOO, this book. Bob told me to prepare for some capital-P poems, and I\u2019m happy to report this collection absolutely delivered. Certain poets make me feel like I should bow my head while reading them, and it\u2019s not just because I feel religious<\/a> about nature<\/a>. These poems are beautiful in a way that feels unselfconscious and effortless. But I don\u2019t want to give the impression that it\u2019s all flowery. There\u2019s pop culture, there\u2019s anger at white racism, there are references to myths and some funny lines. There are love songs. There are long poems and short poems. It\u2019s a manuscript completely full of the good things poetry does. But most of all, these are poems quietly demand you slow down and spend time with them, if for no other reason than the impeccably clean way they present themselves.<\/p> Werewolf Lawyer<\/strong><\/em> by Shea Serrano: <\/strong>I\u2019ve talked before about my complicated feelings with crime fiction<\/a> (I love crime fiction but hate cops). I\u2019ve also talked a lot<\/a> about my love<\/a> for werewolves<\/a>. So I was ready to love this book, and have fun with it. The perfectly short, no-nonsense prologue sets up werewolfing as a mysterious affliction that has affected 6,400 people in the world with no explanation\u2014some living in the woods, some living amongst humans. Thomas Atwell is the man the werewolves call when they\u2019re in legal trouble. Today, Atwell\u2019s defending a werewolf accused of killing his wife, and we\u2019re in the courtroom. <\/p> Reading<\/a> as much<\/a> Indigenous<\/a> fiction<\/a> as I have been lately has me thinking about the function of stories and the medium in which they\u2019re told. What I\u2019m about to write gets into stuff Victor LaValle put in <\/a>The Changeling<\/a><\/em>, too. This novel (novella? is that distinction all that meaningful?) has a tone that lends itself to a radio play (I did not listen to the audiobook, but I know Shea likes to have fun with the production of his audiobooks) or prolonged ghost story you\u2019d tell around the fire pit\/blunt circle at your AirBnb. Those types of stories are going to be short on, like, extended metaphor and recurring symbolism or whatever other Modernist technique. You can tell this story out loud to a group of the homies. You\u2019re not writing 10-page papers doing a Post-Structuralist reading. What these types of stories are good at is incepting a question into you without you realizing it. In The Changeling<\/em>, when they referenced the Maurice Sendak book or other fairy tales, the idea was \u201chow do we take care of our children?\u201d In Werewolf Lawyer<\/em>\u2014much like My Cousin Vinny<\/em>\u2014the question is \u201cwhat is the point of a courtroom and by extension the legal system?\u201d Without spoiling the ending, there is<\/em> the kind of dramatic twist ending you\u2019d expect from a purely fun legal thriller, but before that? There is a lot of work done to highlight how much a courtroom doesn\u2019t care about truth<\/em>, per se, a courtroom cares about the letter of the law<\/em> and what can be proven<\/em>. Things that factor into a conviction or release include attorney\u2019s demeanors<\/em> and jury\u2019s feelings<\/em> as much or more than actual events. I came away from this book the way I expected to after reading a werewolf crime novel: bummed I\u2019m not a werewolf, and determined to\u2014as Desus admonished us\u2014avoid the bookings, beloved. To that end, let\u2019s go to the links and get mad about cops. <\/p> LINKS!<\/strong><\/p> Something to listen to while you browse? How about some LA LOM? It\u2019s been a while and they put up a new video recently and also their tracks are a good contrast to the bummer shit I\u2019m about to link. <\/p>![](\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/ab4a24d8-b6f3-4e5f-ae5a-feaa43c47caa_4032x3024.heic\"\/)
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