The Malevolent Volume

December 16, 2019
Winner of the 2018 National Book Award, Reed (Indecency) cyclones through a dreamscape full of sorrow and protest in his enchanting and enigmatic second collection. Weaving mythology and scripture with literature, film, music, and political speech, Reed offers a historical, personal, and prophetic tapestry that reflects on civil injustice. His musical style is simultaneously his most exceptional and problematic quality; when he is specific, he is scintillating: “There it goes, thin thing,/ cheshiring between trees/ whose reaper-robes/ trail/ their trains deep underground:/ your life, hangin out// like an exposure.” When he neglects narrative in favor of mystery and acoustic novelty, he occasionally overlabors the reader: “In the great whelm of endless, in this iron gullet, Its voices clap a racket. I/ aim my second mouth at more of aperture in Its/ appall.// ...I gift the second mouth into Its chest I was kept/ alive there I cannot be killed for ingratitude.” While some readers may find themselves reaching for analytical assistance (which Reed’s included index provides), this book proves an enjoyable whirlwind with a simultaneously modern and baroque beat.