Exactly What Happened

by Brouwer, Joel

• ISBN13: 9781557531582
• ISBN10: 1557531587
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-01-01
• Publisher: Purdue Univ Pr

Summary

This first collection of poems unveils the magician's trick: an illusion only works if we believe that what we've just seen is exactly what happened. With a hairsplitting sense of detail and spellbinding language, Joel Brouwer's poems consider characters

Table of Contents

I
Abracadabra Kit	3	(2)
Snow	5	(2)
``Astronomers Detect Water in Distant Galaxy, Suggest Life May Be Present throughout Universe''	7	(2)
The Foreign Correspondent	9	(2)
``Former Kenyan Parliament Member Arrested for `Imagining the Death' of President Daniel arap Moi''	11	(2)
Lt. Shrapnel	13	(1)
Locking Up the Russian	14	(2)
``Scientists to Determine Why John Wayne Gacy Became Serial Killer; Brain Will Be Removed after Execution''	16	(2)
The Plastic Surgeon's Wife	18	(2)
The White Angel Pharmacy	20	(1)
``Kelly, Ringling Bros. Oldest Elephant, Goes on Rampage''	21	(2)
Papers	23	(2)
Rostropovich at Checkpoint Charlie, November 11, 1989	25	(4)
II
Exactly What Happened	29	(2)
May Day, 1921, Vitebsk	31	(2)
Laika	33	(2)
Conservatory Pond, Central Park, New York, New York	35	(2)
Universal Studios Backlot, Los Angeles, California	37	(2)
Steve's Commando Paintball, San Adriano, California	39	(2)
July 4: At Little Bighorn Battlefield, Montana	41	(2)
AIDS Hospice, Houston, Texas	43	(1)
Yoctosecond	44	(2)
The Murdered's House	46	(1)
Chicken Truck	47	(1)
Khrushchev's Shoe	48	(2)
50¢	50	(1)
Story	51	(4)
III
The Future	55	(2)
Conjurer's Honor	57	(5)
Nixon Dead	62	(2)
Zoo Fight	64	(2)
Houdini	66	(1)
Upon Seeing an MRI Image of My Brain	67	(2)
Amtrak Club Car, 3:30 A.M., near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	69	(1)
Henry Miller Memorial Library, Big Sur, California	70	(1)
Space Memorabilia Auction, Superior Stamp and Coin, Beverly Hills, California	71	(2)
West Loop Freeway On-Ramp, Houston, Texas	73	(1)
Resort	74	(1)
The Young Philosopher	75	(1)
Fruit Fly	76	(1)
The Mistakes I Made and the Things I Did Right	77	(1)
Last Request	78	(2)
What to Do	80