Logorrhea Dementia: A Self-Diagnosis(The VQR Poetry)

Attempting to stitch a quilt of language for the new millennium, Kyle Dargan finds himself in his third collection propelled forward by a mélange of voices—individuals passed on the street, journalists, philosophers, movie and cartoon characters, hip-hop emcees, and fellow poets—all of which build to a self-diagnosed logorrhea dementia. Dargan’s voice channels an America mentally fatigued from a decade of foreign conflict yet cautiously hopeful about the promise of the country’s renewed introspection. In these poems, rife with the anxieties of the aughts, Dargan seeks to destabilize social and cultural landscapes believed to be settled—breaking and clearing ground to lay the foundation for a new American perspective.

About the Author :
KYLE DARGAN's poetry collections include Logorrhea Dementia: A Self-Diagnosis (Georgia); Bouquet of Hungers (Georgia), which received the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award; and The Listening (Georgia), which was a winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize. He is the former managing editor of Callaloo and the founder and current editor of POST NO ILLS magazine. He is an associate professor of literature and creative writing at American University.

Review :
Kyle Dargan has not let contemporary poetics fool him, so don’t let Kyle Dargan fool you. He’s a romantic (small r) with an insatiable desire to construct new meaning in order to heal old experiences. In Logorrhea Dementia, Dargan puts his foot not just into his mouth but also into his heart, worrying the reader into reading experiences that are as otherworldy as they are logical. You will either love this poet or be afraid of the way he integrates theory and prosody then pulls them apart again. Both hip and academic, serious and laid back, he seems never to exist on the page without the strength of both of his eyes doing different things in the name of all of his senses. Dargan imagines parts of his body abandoning the whole, his heart walking out of his chest, but he always 'remain[s] beautiful in the event / of emergency.' His sneaky, cynical humor finds inspiration in sources as diverse as cartoons, bad movies, overheard cell phone conversations. Dargan titles one of my favorite poems ‘I'll See It When I Believe It.’ With vividness, with style, over and over: he's made a believer out of me. Kyle Dargan’s new collection is an uprising—and an extremely artful one. These fierce and abrasive lyrics and jeremiads possess a visceral immediacy that makes much of the writing of his generational peers seem timid. Be forewarned—you should handle this book with asbestos gloves. Kyle Dargan has already demonstrated that he is a good poet. With Logorrhea Dementia he has become an exceptional poet, and the sort of figure we will need in the future.