Suggests Nightfall by Johnny Coley

These recordings are a selection of readings from the book. Enjoy!

Suggests Nightfall is like a surreal Southern diary brimming with sensuous language and biting wit. In this, his fourth book, Johnny Coley takes us to that liminal space at the edges of language, where ideology loses its enchantment and it's possible to see beyond the veil. Taking cue from Situationist and Surrealist writers, Coley's prose poetry melds street level observations with wild free verse to invoke a prismatic view of reality. This collection of writings made between the mid-90s and 2020, is a brilliant chronicle of queer life as told by a sage of the Birmingham experimental scene. Coley's ability to improvise words in a live musical setting is an utterly entrancing experience that many have had the pleasure of witnessing in the past few years. Now, finally, here is the magic dust of his daily life; a deeper dive into the poet's prolific and ongoing transformation of words into "another music." His lyrical narratives here are at turns poignant and hilarious, conveying the absurd experience of living within the paradoxes of our current sociopolitical state. Beyond that there is the primal beauty of earth, sky, wind and dreams that the self can dissolve into. Suggests Nightfall takes you there.

110 pages
50 poems
Paperback
First Edition, 2021

Fringe, USA

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