Uncommon Grammar (Cloth)
This series of experimental poems—written in continuous prose-like paragraphs but with the rhythmic attentiveness of the finest verse - allows the ever-shifting present to emerge like various threads of a fabric in the making. Economic, political, and poetic subjects weave through the text, delivering meanings on one page that are unraveled on the next. Familiar word patterns transmute suddenly with an associative leap or syntactic twist or a play on sound, enacting the sense of the body in motion, the self seeking the other, or catching glimpses of the divine.
“Uncommon Grammar Cloth stretches the imaginings & musings of the unsuspecting reader. Refreshing in its unpredictability, its fascinating “moves,” Cheryl Pallant’s book is a strong debut on the post-post-modern stage.” – Anne Waldman
“Cheryl Pallant’s first book is written in continuous, prose-like “paragraphs” but with the rhythmic attentiveness of the finest verse. “Reality is unfinished business,” wrote poet Charles Olson, and these poems seem to say it is the Poet’s business to make sure - in spite of all temptations to bring meaning to closure - that it stays that way!” – Charles Stein
“Weaving words with rare energy and skill, Cheryl Pallant’s Uncommon Grammar Cloth joins the increasing number of contemporary cross-genre works that return writing to “writing” in ways both old and new, reviving the tradition harking back to Sterne and Stein, refusing to be boxed in as either “poetry” or “prose”: “extreme of stratospheric glee,” “thanks and welcome and arrivederci and Pontiac and rutabaga” - yes, right, and Onward! – Anselm Hollo
