Blitzkrieg

Overview
Excerpts

by John Gosslee

Blitzkrieg begins as a 13-poem sequence that progresses through a number of cities, symbolic locales and hauntingly provocative metaphors. The non-narrative style of the sequence was inspired by the life-changing poem “Portrait of an Inner Life.” Dedicated to the growth of “Portrait of an Inner Life,” the second chapter of Blitzkrieg chronicles the poem’s painstaking creation, initial rejection, national publication and international acceptance. Concluding with a four panel illustration of the poem by cartoonist Yumi Sakugawa, a three panel painting of the poem by Scott Kirschner and photographs of the poem on stickers in major cities as public art Blitzkrieg is the embodiment of a non-traditional book.

John Gosslee is the editor of Fjords Review. His first book 12: Sonnets for the Zodiac (Gival, 2013) was nominated for the National Book Critic’s Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize. He rides a motorcycle almost every day of the year and lives in Virginia at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

by John Gosslee

A Water Can Sprays a Flowerbed City

outside of the train station
it rains like god is ringing out a towel
the ticket holders bloom umbrellas
drops of water splash into little corsages
I inhale and float up as if a balloon
mismatched flowers pivot on their stems to see
as I ascend my empty boots fill with cold soup
someone’s shoulder snickers against my wet right foot
a woman yells, you can’t do that!
she lunges to pluck me down and catches air

Excerpt from chapter “Migration of Portrait of an Inner Life”

I said, “It’s in the drink or you can have it.” She replied, “Really? really? I can have it?!” I let go of the green bottle with an orange ribbon coming off the maroon waxed top, and she cradled it and smiled. “I’m going to put this on my desk!” she said. I told everyone that the evening was magnificent and walked to my car. The reading at Changing Hands was the best one of the tour because of the hostess’s warmth and I didn’t want to leave.