Has it really been all the way back to the first since I've looked at a Brian Evenson story? Well, time to rectify that. From the fantastic anthology, PP/FF (Starcherone Books, 2006), edited by Peter Conners, comes "Garker's Aestheticals."
It were a word. It name were God.
It gangled my tongue. It were crawed up my throat. Word God were given me the choke.
Spatted it out all about the crackwood floor. Luppen and lappen it up all from the crackwood floor. Gangled it trussed with my mean silvered tongue.
Pupled it pasty atween my molar teeth. Gave it the swallow, did I. Word went down smooth, did it. There were mouthwater to helpen it down. There were a swallow of nonesuch to helpen it down.
And that is the first half of section I (of III). It seems that Evenson has created his own language here, or pulled a medieval language from under the dust. And as only few can, he makes this language so consistent that a reader can determine what he's trying to get across. To me, this is akin to my picking up a book written in a foreign language and understanding it.
This is a unique little story in a fantastic anthology - Starcherone knew what they were doing when they let Peter Conners put together this book of Prose Poetry/Flash Fictions. Just find it. And this whole post reminds me that Blake Butler is doing detailed reviews of every story to be found in Evenson's forthcoming story collection, Fugue State (Coffee House Press, 2009). The first can be found here; I can't wait to read the rest.
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