Enter your email Address

ENTROPY
  • About
    • About
    • Masthead
    • Advertising
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Info on Book Reviews
  • Essays
    • All Introspection
      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Our Heroes Must Wear Capes

      December 10, 2019

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Some Very Small Times

      December 6, 2019

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Foster Care: And Silence Makes Three

      December 5, 2019

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      WOVEN: Grace

      December 4, 2019

      Introspection

      The Birds: In Our Piety

      November 14, 2019

      Introspection

      Variations: Landslide

      June 12, 2019

      Introspection

      Variations on a Theme: Walls

      June 5, 2019

      Introspection

      Variations on a Theme: In Memoriam, Amy Winehouse: Years Later, My Tears Are Still Drying on Their Own

      June 3, 2019

  • Fiction
    • Fiction

      Best of 2019: Favorite Online Fiction & Short Stories

      December 6, 2019

      Fiction

      Autumn Passing

      December 5, 2019

      Fiction

      Best of 2019: Best Fiction Books

      December 5, 2019

      Fiction

      Vexing the Dog

      November 27, 2019

      Fiction

      A Hurt In Negative

      November 20, 2019

  • Reviews
    • All Collaborative Review Video Review
      Review

      Review: The Way Cities Feel to Us Now by Nathaniel Kennon Perkins

      December 9, 2019

      Review

      Obsessive, Recursive Violence and Concentration: Charlene Elsby’s Hexis

      December 5, 2019

      Review

      EVERYTHING CAN GO/ ON THE GRILL: A Combined Review of Alissa Quart

      December 2, 2019

      Review

      Review: If the House by Molly Spencer

      November 18, 2019

      Collaborative Review

      A Street Car Named Whatever

      February 22, 2016

      Collaborative Review

      Black Gum: A Conversational Review

      August 7, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      Lords of Waterdeep in Conversation

      February 25, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      MOUTH: EATS COLOR and the Devoration of Languages

      January 12, 2015

      Video Review

      Entropy’s Super Mario Level

      September 15, 2015

      Video Review

      Flash Portraits of Link: Part 7 – In Weakness, Find Strength

      January 2, 2015

      Video Review

      Basal Ganglia by Matthew Revert

      March 31, 2014

      Video Review

      The Desert Places by Amber Sparks and Robert Kloss, Illustrated by Matt Kish

      March 21, 2014

  • Small Press
    • Small Press

      Penteract Press

      December 10, 2019

      Small Press

      Game Over Books

      December 3, 2019

      Small Press

      Jamii Publishing

      November 19, 2019

      Small Press

      Elixir Press

      November 12, 2019

      Small Press

      October and November: Small Press Releases

      November 1, 2019

  • Where to Submit
  • More
    • Poetry
    • Interviews
    • Games
      • All Board Games Video Games
        Games

        Hunt A Killer, Earthbreak, and Empty Faces: Escapism for the Post-Truth Era

        September 21, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: Lady of the West

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Paperback and Anomia

        July 27, 2019

        Featured

        Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Spirit of Generosity

        December 31, 2018

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: Lady of the West

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Paperback and Anomia

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 12 (Once in a Lifetime)

        November 10, 2018

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 11 (Karma Police)

        November 3, 2018

        Video Games

        Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Spirit of Generosity

        December 31, 2018

        Video Games

        Best of 2018: Video Games

        December 17, 2018

        Video Games

        Silent Hill Shattered Memories: Biography of a Place

        September 3, 2018

        Video Games

        Silent Hill Downpour: Biography of a Place

        August 3, 2018

    • Food
    • Small Press Releases
    • Film
    • Music
    • Paranormal
    • Travel
    • Art
    • Graphic Novels
    • Comics
    • Current Events
    • Astrology
    • Random
  • RESOURCES
  • The Accomplices
    • THE ACCOMPLICES
    • Enclave
    • Trumpwatch

ENTROPY

  • About
    • About
    • Masthead
    • Advertising
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Info on Book Reviews
  • Essays
    • All Introspection
      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Our Heroes Must Wear Capes

      December 10, 2019

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Some Very Small Times

      December 6, 2019

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Foster Care: And Silence Makes Three

      December 5, 2019

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      WOVEN: Grace

      December 4, 2019

      Introspection

      The Birds: In Our Piety

      November 14, 2019

      Introspection

      Variations: Landslide

      June 12, 2019

      Introspection

      Variations on a Theme: Walls

      June 5, 2019

      Introspection

      Variations on a Theme: In Memoriam, Amy Winehouse: Years Later, My Tears Are Still Drying on Their Own

      June 3, 2019

  • Fiction
    • Fiction

      Best of 2019: Favorite Online Fiction & Short Stories

      December 6, 2019

      Fiction

      Autumn Passing

      December 5, 2019

      Fiction

      Best of 2019: Best Fiction Books

      December 5, 2019

      Fiction

      Vexing the Dog

      November 27, 2019

      Fiction

      A Hurt In Negative

      November 20, 2019

  • Reviews
    • All Collaborative Review Video Review
      Review

      Review: The Way Cities Feel to Us Now by Nathaniel Kennon Perkins

      December 9, 2019

      Review

      Obsessive, Recursive Violence and Concentration: Charlene Elsby’s Hexis

      December 5, 2019

      Review

      EVERYTHING CAN GO/ ON THE GRILL: A Combined Review of Alissa Quart

      December 2, 2019

      Review

      Review: If the House by Molly Spencer

      November 18, 2019

      Collaborative Review

      A Street Car Named Whatever

      February 22, 2016

      Collaborative Review

      Black Gum: A Conversational Review

      August 7, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      Lords of Waterdeep in Conversation

      February 25, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      MOUTH: EATS COLOR and the Devoration of Languages

      January 12, 2015

      Video Review

      Entropy’s Super Mario Level

      September 15, 2015

      Video Review

      Flash Portraits of Link: Part 7 – In Weakness, Find Strength

      January 2, 2015

      Video Review

      Basal Ganglia by Matthew Revert

      March 31, 2014

      Video Review

      The Desert Places by Amber Sparks and Robert Kloss, Illustrated by Matt Kish

      March 21, 2014

  • Small Press
    • Small Press

      Penteract Press

      December 10, 2019

      Small Press

      Game Over Books

      December 3, 2019

      Small Press

      Jamii Publishing

      November 19, 2019

      Small Press

      Elixir Press

      November 12, 2019

      Small Press

      October and November: Small Press Releases

      November 1, 2019

  • Where to Submit
  • More
    • Poetry
    • Interviews
    • Games
      • All Board Games Video Games
        Games

        Hunt A Killer, Earthbreak, and Empty Faces: Escapism for the Post-Truth Era

        September 21, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: Lady of the West

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Paperback and Anomia

        July 27, 2019

        Featured

        Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Spirit of Generosity

        December 31, 2018

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: Lady of the West

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Paperback and Anomia

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 12 (Once in a Lifetime)

        November 10, 2018

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 11 (Karma Police)

        November 3, 2018

        Video Games

        Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Spirit of Generosity

        December 31, 2018

        Video Games

        Best of 2018: Video Games

        December 17, 2018

        Video Games

        Silent Hill Shattered Memories: Biography of a Place

        September 3, 2018

        Video Games

        Silent Hill Downpour: Biography of a Place

        August 3, 2018

    • Food
    • Small Press Releases
    • Film
    • Music
    • Paranormal
    • Travel
    • Art
    • Graphic Novels
    • Comics
    • Current Events
    • Astrology
    • Random
  • RESOURCES
  • The Accomplices
    • THE ACCOMPLICES
    • Enclave
    • Trumpwatch
Literature

Animal Control, or Thoughts on Elizabeth Colen’s The Green Condition

written by Alexis Pope October 14, 2014

The Green Condition by Elizabeth J. Colen
Ricochet Editions, December 2013
Amazon / Ricochet Editions

 

Can we mourn together if I don’t know you? I think so.

Sometimes I knock to come in.

Even in our homes we feel criminal. Hidden. The last moments can go on for years. Watch the end: a non-chronological timeline. What could make more sense.

Sometimes our mothers want us dead. Sometimes our lovers are absent.

Animals: silent companions. Whether welcome or not, their existence keeps our timeline in the present. A dog to bury the bones. A raccoon to rip up the garbage. Quiet: the house mocks what is undone, undoing. Waits.

In the green condition there must be adequate strength for handling.

In this condition we move for the one(s) we love. Alone, you eat take-out standing in the kitchen. You watch for the raccoon. Why is everything so contingent on time? I am reminded. I am eating with you.

Certain books should be read in one sitting.

Artifact:

An object made by a human being,
typically an item of cultural or historical interest.

Artifact:

We lived here. We lived
together.

The girl has certain charms. A book collection I can stare into when I’ve got nothing to say. // A mouth I’d like to live in.

In Colen’s baring she questions the nature of love relationships. Parent/Child. Lover/Lover. Pet/Owner. In some ways we are always not in control. In some ways we are owned.

Post Partum/Abandonment/The animal in the tree.

They will only come for what is dead already.

When Khali, a sloth bear at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C., went into labor in late December last year, her keepers were thrilled.

 Khali—still in labor with other cubs—bent down, not to lick her newborn, but to eat it. The cheers turned to gasps of dismay. Khali gave birth to two more cubs that day, and for the next week, she was as attentive, calm, and nurturing as a mother sloth bear could be. The keepers continued to monitor her and her cubs, as they do with all bear mothers. So they were on hand when Khali ate another of her babies and turned her back on the third. (National Geographic)

The neighbor, a new mother. We watch her disintegrate. On the other side of the door we whisper sorry into the air.

That night the lady with the baby stands in her backyard and yells. I don’t know what she’s angry with.

stability failure, through-truss, offgrassing, arathkone, ahrah-koon-em.

I turn these words over in my mouth.

This book slow builds. The more I read the more it takes over. You know books that changes your interaction with the day. This is one of them.

When she leaves I put her toothbrush in my mouth. I hold it there two hours.

In endings what do we hold onto? Drain the spit from the bristles. Another way to keep you inside me.

Geography of separation. What keeps us separate from each other/ourselves. How do we ever end a thing when we are so entirely alive.

We become destructive.

Two women: The mother. The lover.
Seen in smoke. Seen in leaving. The silence.
They are never named.

The women: We want them close.
We fear them. We cannot exist
without them.

Threat: Mother, Lover, Animal.

This book is a watching, a witnessing. I won’t say destruction again. Maybe: quiet massacre. ‘Most relationships end’ is something my sister said once. We are reminded. It is essential to feel understood. As human beings we crave this, we need it more than we can admit. Watch us form small communities. Watch as we survive.

Poetry is a sharing, an inclusiveness. At least here it is. Colen reminds us how our experiences ruin and wreck us, but then bring us closer to each other. Somehow we keep going. Leaning against the glass window of a very tall building. The mother answers Then she falls.

We don’t know where the heart is.

Colen shows our desire for contact. It is built-in. We write personal ads, online profiles. At times our love exists through screens.

She creates a space for me/the reader to fall in. Or is it a space for her work to burrow. The raccoon dismantles. I walk around my small (tiny) apartment and feel quiet, emotional. The silence fills my blood. I clean the kitchen. Is everyone always battling ants?

It makes sense I would bleed.

And still the anger is constant. Confession is important.

Every night she texts the same message goodnight.

What makes us believe love wholes us/heals us. From what do we need healing.

(Our mothers. Our lovers.)

Across the alley, I watch the neighbor learn about surrender. 

Ask why we keep looking/loving. I guess it’s simple. We have no choice.

 Green Condition

Animal Control, or Thoughts on Elizabeth Colen’s The Green Condition was last modified: October 9th, 2014 by Alexis Pope
booksMother SlothspoetryRicochet EditionsThe Green Condition
0 comment
0
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Avatar
Alexis Pope

Alexis Pope is the author of SOFT THREAT (Coconut Books, 2014), as well as the chapbooks BONE MATTER (The Lettered Streets Press, 2014), No Good (H_NGM_N, 2013), and girl erases girl (dancing girl press, 2013). Poems have appeared or are forthcoming inDenver Quarterly, Washington Square, Guernica, Octopus, and Forklift Ohio, among others. She lives in Brooklyn, is involved with Belladonna* Collaborative, and edits for ILK.

previous post
IT FEELS LIKE AN INSTITUTION
next post
The Book As Failure

You may also like

“The Guise of a Body”: A Review of Claire Donato’s The Second Body

April 22, 2016

Allegory as Screen Memory: A Review of Aimee Parkison’s The Petals of Your Eyes

June 10, 2014

Talkativeness by Michael Earl Craig

June 23, 2014

On Writing by Charles Bukowski

September 30, 2015
Facebook Twitter Instagram

Recent Comments

  • Simmons Buntin You missed a few over at Terrain.org... :-)

    Best of 2019: Favorite Poems Published Online ·  December 6, 2019

  • Ginger Lang Mairead, a heartfelt gift from you to all who read and share your piece, and peace. Thank you for being brave and vulnerable so others in need of healing can feel you reaching out to them. Thank you...

     The TO THE TEETH #4 ·  December 5, 2019

  • L33tspeak Is that what they call it in France?

    The Culinary Appeal of the French Taco ·  December 3, 2019

Featured Columns & Series

  • The Birds
  • Dinnerview
  • Sunday Entropy List
  • Variations on a Theme
  • WOVEN
  • BLACKCACKLE
  • Literacy Narrative
  • Mini-Syllabus
  • Their Days Are Numbered
  • On Weather
  • Disarticulations
  • Birdwolf
  • Session Report series
  • Comics I've Been Geeking Out On
  • Small Press Releases
  • Books I Hate (and Also Some I Like)
  • The Poetics of Spaces
  • Notes On Motherhood
  • 30 Years of Ghibli
  • Tales From the End of the Bus Line
  • YOU MAKE ME FEEL
  • Ludic Writing
  • The Talking Cure
  • Best of 2018
  • The Weird Interview
  • DRAGONS ARE REAL OR THEY ARE DEAD
  • Foster Care
  • Pop Talks
  • The Concept World is No Longer Operational
  • Splendid Grub
  • LEAKY CULTURE
  • Jem and the Holographic Feminisms
  • D&D with Entropy
  • Stars to Stories

Find Us On Facebook

Entropy
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

©2019 The Accomplices LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Read our updated Privacy Policy.


Back To Top